UK Shoplifting (and need for Foodbanks) growing exponentially

Shoplifting has gone up in the UK by 7% and the stuff being lifted is food. The reason for this is the fact that according to experts, people are finding their finances squeezed.

On Radio Four earlier today a Mum said she went shoplifting for food because even though she has used Foodbanks, the stuff they gave her was not healthy and so she, from the desire to feed her kids healthy food, went shoplifting. Now she acknowledged that this was wrong - but felt she had no choice.

This news item brings a couple of issues to the fore:

More and more people are finding it hard to live and the potential for rises in interest rates some time soon will see mortgages and other rate-related rise and this will exacerbate the situation. More people will have less to pay out on food, especially as the real value of income decreases each year any,way. There is already a rise in loan sharks and the spectre of interest rate rises will only feed this.

So many of those who support Foodbanks appear to go for volume rather than quality (and I know I'm probably wrong in this) but I always encourage those who decide to donate to go for middle of the road rather than cheaper stuff - my thinking being that I'd rather see five pounds worth of quality, low salt, low sugar, low additive foodstuff (say six tins) than twelve tins of foodstuffs that will affect the health of the recipients. Our local Foodbank is happy to receive fresh vegetables (a good thing with Harvest drawing near once again) and this is a good thing.

There is an immense need for Christians:
To support (and if there isn't one, to establish) Credit Unions;
To work together with Foodbanks;
To engage with groups like Christians Against Poverty (CAP)
To speak up for the marginalised and those in poverty and other needs

Soapbox back in cupboard

Spare some change mate?

Sitting on the pavement
harvesting the change
Changing the reality?
Not, really!

They sit clocking up the cash
To pay for drink, or hash
Or to feed some need that they don't need at all
You give them Platitudes!

You give them your change rather than change
The habits of a lifetime and
offering platitudes
revelling in gratitude.
You pay for the privilege of doing nothing!

Meanwhile a shadow away- a fingertip near
Stands the God made man
The bloke you claim to follow
who is leading the way.
But you're not looking that far!

"Doing it for the least of them means
You're doing it for me,"
But then you'd have to stop and give time
Give of yourself.
Just like Jesus did
But I'm a good Christian
I'm living under Grace.
That ain't for me
Is it?

The poor have names

I love it when one of those throwaway quotes that occur in a conversations suddenly develop talons which pierce you with the immensity of their apparent simplicity and seek to drown you in the depths of what would be, from many, a shallowness.

This was my experience this morning as I chatted to Justin's new advisor on evangelism and witness (a through nice bloke called Chris) and as he chatted about his role and reasons for being, family and stuff, I, once more, got the feeling that I'm looking forward to becoming a Justinian :-)

But that aside, let's get back to that thought: 'The poor have names.'

I struggle that the Church often appears to see 'the poor' in much that same way as it sees mission - namely as something we need to address in other places and different cultures. When they are considered, they are often considered as a class of folk rather than as individuals and whilst there are times when this is necessary, for we can't call for justice for John, Bob, Mary, Betty and All the poor by name - because we would surely miss some and there's not enough time left to right wrongs by the time we a done. BUT when we are on the streets in the communities we are called to serve, there is no excuse for us not to know their names. When we pass through the streets of our town and see the Big Issue seller or the chap who sits in the same place begging, we have no excuse not to know their names and to engage with them in an effort to serve and support them as Christ would have us do.

One of the (many) things I am known for 'going on about' (I prefer 'having a passion for') is that when we see someone begging we give them something perhaps more costly than money in our society - time! We stop and engage with the person and find out who they are and why they are there and what they really need. We give them the dignity of personhood and being worthy of our precious time - for money is the cheap and easy option.

Money says, 'I will pay you to away! I'm not really interested in who you are and why you're here - just stop bothering me!' Money turns the poor before us into potential kidnappers as we pay the ransom to have us set free from their company; but what, we mus ask ourselves, would Jesus do?

The poor have names and needs and hopes and hurts and pain and a need of the overwhelming love of God, and this is found in the hearts of those who call themselves Christian. Unless the Church can bring itself to learn the names of 'the poor' we condemn them to the marginalisation of poverty and share with them a poverty of Spirit that condemns us both (and denies the image of Jesus, the Christ, in us).

Pax

Church Report (3): sets low standard - fails to achieve?

I'd like to consider those churches who serve the poorer, needier and more deprives communities in our land for it often here than numbers and money combine to bring forth an inherited poverty that inhabits (and perhaps controls) both spiritual and physical worlds.

Confused (then, job done, perhaps I should stop now whilst behind)? No, of course you're not - well I hope you won't be:

A church I happened across was in an Urban Priority Area (UPA); one of those places that exists somewhere in every city, town and village. The people were lovely - they were the sort of either lived to work and worked to live or were what they called 'government artists' (a local euphemism for those who 'drew' benefits). Like many from churches that are in UPA or 'Estate' settings many of those who were drawn to gave more than perhaps their income or lifestyles might have led you to expect and not only did they give pound notes but they gave of their time and themselves too. This is a reality that makes some inner-city, UPA and estate churches such a blessing - people where living is hard and living as a Christian is harder still - and yet they do admirably.

So what am I talking about, because this billing doesn't appear to have anything to do with 'inherited poverty', does it?

I'm talking about the fact that even though they gave, many assumed that they'd struggle to pay their share and so, accordingly, they did! In fact that hadn't managed to pay all or much of the share for a number of years and when the issue was raised, so too were their voices as they said (in unison), 'But we're a poor church, we can't afford to pay!'  They were so convinced that they were poor and couldn't pay that this became something they tried to ignore - for rather than bless and be a blessing it became the hallmark of poverty and defeat.

What I think was going on was that the church was under a curse they had pronounced over themselves. This course was, of course, poverty and from this poverty they found themselves unable to pay which confirmed the curse they were under and one fed the other to leave them impotent as a 'poor' church.

They looked up the road to the big successful church (whatever happened to 'Giving as Ministry' ?) and saw in their success further confirmation of their inability to pay and of their poverty in terms of numbers (and yet, oddly, both were evangelical and occupied the same beliefs and attitudes) and ability to 'be or do' church.

Then along came a new minister. Not young and flashy, not full of tricks, gimmicks, buzzwords and a 'drop dead gorgeous and talented 'worship band' (isn't it ALL worship?) but committed to breaking the cycle of poverty that had limited the congregation. They set about paying their share and amazingly, they did!

Now this will have done many things:

i. It says to the people -'you are not chained by poverty but have been set free' (and free indeed!); now live like it,

ii. It says to the diocese - 'We are committed to being part of the diocesan family',

iii. Invites renewed (visible) commitment from the diocesan as they recognise the achievement, and

iv. It beggars the question of the other churches around it - 'Were you helping or praying when they were failing or merely content because you weren't? '

It is so easy for poorer communities to believe that they are too poor to reap the benefits of God's Grace and too poor to meet their church's commitments.

It is easier still for those churches with money (and numbers) to sit back comfortably and pay from what they have whilst celebrating the many people they have who are able and active and forget about the poorer church 'up the road/across town'. Because even though this is about them - they don't stand in isolation - Do They?

Malachi's entreaty that we 'bring all of our tithe into the storehouse so that none may go without' doesn't stop at our doors but continues to the whole family.

If a man falls into a hole and has no friends, he perishes; but if he has friends he will be saved.

Who's going to help break the chains that surround so many of our vulnerable and essentially placed churches I wonder?

Relief: Why doesn't the world do something?

I have had a most challenging and interesting conversation in that the other party stated that they believed there was a god who created the world and everything and caused us to have life and be placed here and that was where god stopped. Everything else was left to us to decide our paths and control our thoughts and actions, nothing was set and everything was fluid. This, I was told, would explain the reason that there was so much suffering and death in the world; god had done his bit and now declined to have any involvement in things.

I pointed out that many of the deaths across the world could be prevented if only large corporations put shareholder dividends and profits second to making their products (drugs and services) available to those with need at cost price; the principle of getting those who could pay doing so with the result that those who couldn't might benefit! I also pointed out that many of the wars used differences and well-constructed lines of race, colour, creed and tongue as the legitimising element for their own greed and violence.

The response to this was that when it came to need, "The Church should be doing something!" I quickly pointed out that indeed the Church was only to be told, "Then it needs to do more!"

I explained that what we needed was the world to become engaged in the battle against poverty, disease, famine and conflict but came away thinking that the prevailing attitude was that this was the Church's task not the worlds.

Guess we are the universal do-gooders.

Who is my brother (and why are they only the world's when we have a BBC TV day full of celeb's making appeals)?

Aaaargh!

ps. I was recently stopped by a lovely old lady who told me how she turned over when 'them poor black babies' were put on the screen to raise money. "They don't seem to think how seeing images like that spoils our television watching, " says she, "I have to turn over!"

Seems like many of those in the world turn over whilst the Church (I hope) watches, weeps, prays and (I hope) acts!

Making money from the poor

I have been told one of the most disgraceful stories relating to people with poor financial histories that I think I have ever heard.

Someone I know wanted to replace their car and so rang a car company to see if they had the make and model they were looking for. After being asked where they lived they were pointed to a company not that far from their home who dealt with people who had had a CCJ (County Cort Judgement) on their credit history.

When they arrived at the place the first thing they did was ask two questions, "Was the car on site still, and could they take a look at it. The answer was "Yes it is on site and 'No' they couldn't as they did things a bit differently and before customers got onto the car lot they did the paperwork first." So the customer was asked for the names and addresses of three people, not apparently as referees, but they needed to contact them before they could go any further (so what were they then?). The customer, having complained that they would first need to tell those named that their names had been given, was told that they would give them time to contact them before they called.

The salesperson then asked how much the customer could afford to which they replied, "How much is the car?" The response to this was to tell them that, "They didn't work that way and that they went on what the customer could afford as they 'pre-arranged' finance." So the customer put forward the sum of £150 only to be told that there was nothing within that price bracket available. So they upped the figure to £250 and were told that this would mean that there were cars. The customer pointed out that they only wanted one car, make and model and were told that there were many others to choose from.

So then the customer completed the paperwork and asked if they could see the car and this time the answer was "Yes". The salesperson left the room and returned with a couple of sheets of A4 paper upon each of which was a photograph of the desired vehicle (one from the front and the other the interior). When the customer asked where the car was they received the answer that it was, "Somewhere 'down South'!"

The customer then asked how much part-exchange they would get and said they'd go and take some photographs of their vehicle so that they could get a price. The salesperson said that they would need to conduct an inspection of the vehicle because they couldn't offer anything without seeing it. The customer said that the same applied to them and that they needed to see the prospective vehicle to which they were told that once they'd paid a (non-returnable) deposit the car would be brought to the site!

By now the customer was getting a little fed-up and had decided that they weren't going to do business with this company, but decided to ask what the APR for any finance on the vehicle would be. The figure quoted was 49.9%. When the customer said that this was excessive they were told that because of the CCJ this was the rate because, "It was helping them to rebuild their credit history!"

Now I am happy to name names (well, I will be after the OFT and some other agencies have been contacted regarding this firm) and I am disgusted that firms like this, which are no better than the loan sharks who populate the area in which I work, are seeking to rip people off in such a manner. Such companies as this are, I am sure, not an isolated case and reflect something very wrong in the world in which we live.

Thankfully the person left without getting into an argument or punitively-priced finance but how many others leave having sold their souls (and family finances) to companies like this?

A total disgrace :(

OYLC - Issue the first: Poverty

I have been trying to find out what the exact aims and purposes of the OLSX people are. The more I have looked the more I struggle to find anything coherent for what we have is a bunch of people ranging from the intelligentsia through to the professional 'supporter/anarchist' all bringing stuff to the party. The problem is that this lack of a focussed and coherent position results in nothing more than a collection of disgruntled people who are doomed to be nothing more than just that.

Scanning various pages and talking to the ordinary people on the street I get the feeling that there is much dis-ease regarding the current situation facing our nation, Europe and the wider world. That noted, we must take care to ensure that we are looking at justice not revenge, for it appears that the majority (read and dialogued with) are generally seeking the latter.

So, this is an opportunity for the Church (universal) to get off of its behindside and take up the battle. There are so many areas to focus on and I think that we are best served, and serving, when we consider them intelligently and devise prayer and action relating to them, so let us begin with:

Poverty
The increase of FoodBanks, repossessions, redundancies, loss of support for those in post-sixteen education (i.e. EMA) and so much more.

Some food for thought (and prayer)
The current Housholds Below Average Income* (HBAI) (after housing costs) survey tells us:

That 13.5M people in the UK (22%) are income poor and of these:

53% are in families which include at least one child;
32% are in families of people of working age without children;
15% are in pensioner families.

People living below the poverty line are distributed around the UK as follows:

England - 11,615,000 (23% of the population)
Scotland - 969,000 (19% of the population)
Wales - 667,000 (23% of the population0,
Northern Ireland - 374,000 (2% of the population)

The road to this situation includes:

Unemployment - Low wages - Inadequate benefits - Educational opportunities

Child Poverty Action group (CPAG) puts forward these proposals to work towards ending child poverty in the UK:

1. Protect jobs
2. Mend the safety net
3. Move away from means tests
4. Remove barriers to work
5. Stop in-work poverty
6. Put in place a child-first strategy for childcare
7. End the classroom divide
8. Provide fair public services for those who need them most
9. End poverty premiums in taxes and services
10. Ensure a decent home for every family

Just some foor for thought and some spur to developing something coherent (and I am pretty disgusted at just how many church members I have met during my journeys who take up the 'Daily Fascist' view that the poor generally get what they deserve. Thank God that isn't true with us and His standards!! But in case you might think this a graph to savour as you start writing prayers and think of how you can open doors, hearts and engage those outside over this topic:

The poor by economic status (2009/10)

Pax

* HBAI 2009/10 figures

Living in the lack of luxury?

I was stunned by the effects of prejudice and ignorance (of the not knowing kind) which combined on various of the radio broadcasts relating to 'the church, the bankers, OLSX and St Paul's Cathedral'.

Some had me laughing at their absurdity, some had me appalled at their lack of logic whilst, far too many, had me railing as people displayed their ignorance. The top three, in reverse order, in my opinion were:

3. The CofE should sell all of its property, paintings and investments and give them to the poor!

A superb idea, but of course this begets the questions, "Who are the poor and are some more worthwhile, needy, deserving than others?" A

2. The 'Church' should oppose all financial dealings and seek a return to an equitable world where people traded and lived by bartering and sharing resources and skills - like we used to!!

But rather than get a chicken for a day's work we get a Qeen Elizabeth II drinking voucher - money and financial transactions (like paying for your food?) is an essential act. Changing a fiver for a handful of tomatoes is just changing the currency; isn't it?

1. The clergy live in their privileged and comfortable lives whilst demanding that their poor and disadvantaged congregations pay for the privilege in the money the are pressured to give!

Wrong on so many levels and certainly not my experience on any of the points made here. Kids go to local state schools, can't afford holidays abroad and live an adequate, but not always easy, life with our children. Have never pressurised people to give and see in the words above something that is wrong at many levels.

Will discuss these points further - but hopefully some stimulation and food for thought.

Pax

Sometimes . . .

Saw this and thought others might like it

Happy Tuesday