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St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Preached by
Stuart Pike
Rector
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Lent 5 B - Primate Fund Sunday
St. Andrew's Church, Grimsby
2 April 2006
Today is the Primate's World Relief and Development Sunday here at St. Andrew's. The PWRDF, along with other Churches around the world and ecumenical coalitions are focussing on Water this year and the theme for their campaign is "Enough for All."
In Canada we have an abundance of water: a fact for which I am extremely grateful, especially as my wife, Katherine, is a militant water drinker. Water-drinking is her fix-all for just about everything. Don't come to her with any complaint whether it be of a physical, mental or spiritual nature. The preface to her reply will almost always be: "How much water have you had to drink today?" She's right, of course. Drinking enough water is necessary to life. Most people know that humans will die sooner from the deprivation of water than of food. Water means life.
One of the reasons why the Churches are concerned about water, even in such a water-rich country as ours, is because, we have become too complacent in our abundance, and our water-wealth is at risk from many directions including commercialization, the privatization of water, pollution and even international trade.
But our focus on water isn't only, nor primarily about our own interests: it is about ensuring that there is enough water for everyone. Access to clean water is huge problem in the world and currently one person in six, in the world, doesn't have such access.
In Africa the average amount of water used by each person in a day is the same as running a lawn sprinkler for one minute. When I visited Africa the year after I moved to this parish I was able to use about two cups of water each day to get myself clean. Now you know I'm not a very big guy, but this presented a huge challenge to me. I had never valued water so much before.
The getting of water each day is a major everyday challenge for so many in Africa and in many part of the world. Just outside the missionaries' small home in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, there was a stand-pipe which was guarded day and night. It was to this stand-pipe that hundreds of people walked each day to collect water for their needs. In most of Africa where gender roles are still very traditional, it is left to the women and children to fetch water. They sometimes walk for miles carrying heavy containers of water on their heads. We often think of water so carelessly as we turn on a tap to get as much hot or cold water as we like. In Africa it is so much more valued. Water means life.
I want to read you part of a letter from Sarah, in Uganda, one of three children which St. Andrew's Church supports each year through our outreach committee. Judy Connor is the person who communicates to Sarah. She writes:
Dear Judy Connor and St. Andrew's Church,
I am very glad to write to you. How are you all doing, and your families. For I am quite far, together with my family members.
Thank you for loving me that much. I am happy for the map of Canada, Christmas story book and the toy you sent to me. My family members, friends and relatives are also happy.
The weather here now is very hot, dry and with a lot of wind. I hope the weather in Canada is pretty fine.
I am sorry that I could not make it to grade 4 because I had to look after my mother when she was sick. She had a fracture and coupled with other disease, she had to be in hospital for almost three months. She was discharged from hospital and at home but still can't walk. World Vision is also trying what it can to help. World Vision helps those people living with HIV/Aids and she's also one of them.
Here is my prayer that this season I find myself in School and it is my prayer that you pray with me and my family. Of course, World Vision has tried.
Well, not much for now. May God bless you all.
Love, Apiko Sarah.
I am sure that fetching water each day would be one of the many tasks which Sarah would have to do to help keep her family going while her mother is so ill. Water is almost incidental to us, but for Sarah and her family it can mean the difference to their survival in the harsh reality of Africa.More central to Sarah and her families problem is, of course, the crisis of HIV/Aids in Africa.
In the small town which I visited in Uganda in Central Buganda, it was estimated that about 40% of the people were living with HIV. Also, though the Primates Fund responds to emergencies and developments needs around the world as they happen, such as the Earthquakes, Tsunami and hurricanes which have recently occurred, the battle to fight HIV/Aids is the major focus of the Primates World Relief and Development Fund right now.
They are asking that people not only give once to the PWRDF, but will consider enrolling in a monthly giving program which is taken automatically from a bank account or credit card. The program is called, the Partnership for Life campaign and I would like you to consider joining it. It is the way in which my family supports the PWRDF. Let me tell you the story of what is happening in Etwatwa as an example of what PWRDF is supporting:
Points of Light in Etwatwa
At the John Wesley Community Centre in Etwatwa, South Africa, the HIV/AIDS project focuses on women living with AIDS and HIV orphans. The centre trains volunteer foster parents who provide support to a family when the parent is in the last phase of the disease. The volunteers——usually low income, unemployed women——take a three-month training course in which they receive pastoral care and engage in skills development. After that, they are paired with an HIV affected family. The foster parent provides a constant and reassuring presence in the lives of children whose parents are living with AIDS.
Because of its debilitating effects, AIDS often renders parents suffering from AIDS unable to fulfill the tasks of a parent. HIV/AIDS orphans begin to suffer the loss of their parents long before death finally takes them away. In order to mitigate this loss, a foster parent begins visiting the household while the parent is still alive. Twice a day, the foster parent makes sure that children are well cared for. In the morning, (s)he prepares nutritious meals and helps the children get ready to go to school. In the evening, the foster parent makes sure that homework is done, and that the children are fed and tucked into bed. Sick parents are reassured to know that when they pass away someone who knows the children will continue to look after them, and they will not be separated from their siblings or their familiar environment.
In little houses called ""Points of Light"" throughout Etwatwa, women living with AIDS are encouraged to build ""Memory Boxes"". It is very hard to do, because it implicitly acknowledges that death is approaching. The women leave mementos of their lives in the Memory Boxes for their children. Their boxes include pictures, flowers, letters, medical records, and other documents or records that tell the story of the family. They write messages on how they would like their children to live their lives, and what principles and values they should nurture. Memory Boxes are given to the children when the mother dies. [Story from pwrdf.org - there are scores of others - check them out]
In the lesson from Jeremiah this morning, the prophet speaks from God's point of view when he says: "I will make a new covenant, .... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
It is Jesus himself who tells us what that law is when he gives the summary of the commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself." Elsewhere he points out that his use of the word, "neighbour" doesn't just mean your next-door neighbour, but it even means the stranger in the far country.
In today's Gospel, Jesus says, "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
Jesus doesn't mean that we are to despise our lives. What he is really saying is that our lives aren't just for our own selfish purpose, but that we are put here on earth for God's purpose. Jesus doesn't mean that we are to throw away our life. He means, rather, that we are to live it for others. That is the way in which we will keep it for eternal life.
I invite you to consider how you are using up your life: your time, your skills and your wealth. And I would like you to consider giving of your life: your time, your skills and your wealth for the work of the Church and the causes of the Primates World Relief and Development Fund. Amen.
Please note that you can find out all kinds of information at the Primates World Relief and Development Website at PWRDF.org where you can also give online and even sign up for monthly giving.
