Articles - From the Vicar

Dear Friends,

This month sees the start of Christian Aid Week. It is, I believe, the original door to door collection week. Over the years ordinary people have given countless hours and raised millions of pounds to support the work of Christian Aid. Their very holistic philosophy is summed up in their catchy phrase "We believe in life before death."

Too often the Christian faith has been seen as simply about "life after death", as some kind of spiritual insurance policy to make sure that we and our loved ones will be "all right" when we die. In the past this was sometimes offered to the masses as a compensation for their miserable plight in this world. Sometimes this was done in the hope of preventing social unrest or even revolution. Karl Marx rightly condemned this approach to religion as "opium for the masses".

Christian Aid's slogan reminds us that God is passionately concerned about his creation and the quality of life within it for all his children. When Jesus walked the earth he certainly did offer people "eternal life" but by this he meant a quality of life that begins now through a relationship with God. And because God is love, if we want to live in God we have to live in love. While this must include helping others to catch the vision of God's reality and love, it also means sharing God's concern for people in every aspect of their being. It is, in other words, about offering "Christian aid", Christian help, in whatever way we can so that others can experience the fullness of life before death, and grow in the knowledge of God's love. After all what else can love do? And if love doesn't motivate us, then maybe the thought of Jesus' parable of the Sheep and the Goats will help. In the parable those who turned their backs on the needy in this world found that they had little to look forward to in the next!

We have so much to be grateful for. If we can call ourselves Christians then let us take part in offering Christian aid to others, so that they and we can experience more of the life God intends for us, both before death and after it.

With prayers and good wishes
David

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay