I-YOUniverse

I continue reading Bonhoeffer slowly. He wrote that freedom in Christ is not selfish narcissism. No—we are free for others.

I come more and more to believe the Western idolizing of the rugged individual, the Marlboro man, is pathological. My friend Jean-Emile Ngué suggested that Buber ought to have a category, not simply of I-Thou, but  of

We-Thou.

The more I think about it, the more profound my brother’s insight strikes me.

The incarnation of Christ continues in the community he founded: the Church. Not the political entities such as the Southern Baptist Convention or the Roman Catholic Church. These are instances of the Church. But the whole, the mystical reality of all who are in Christ is the Church.

Preferential option for the poor

I watched a Paulist film Romero, with Raul Julia in the title role. Oscar Romero was a bookish, conservative mouse who was elevated to Archbishop of El Salvador in the late 1970s. His priests were involved in the liberation theology movement. He was killed by an assassin in 1980, while saying mass in a small chapel of a cancer hospital.

Right-wing elements of the government opposed the people’s growing demands for free elections, full voting rights, education, and land reform. Romero recognized the power of his radio addresses and became the voice of the poor. He wrote the U.S. President Jimmy Carter, asking that the U.S. stop selling arms to El Salvador. Carter eventually did stop, I think; Reagan resumed the sales under the banner of defeating Communists.

In the German Peasants’ War 1524 Luther faced demands of the poor for such things as open grazing rights, and the right to choose their own pastor. Luther, sadly, sided with the powerful German princes who protected him from the Pope.

The Anabaptists, whom I consider my forebears, were among these people.

In the American Colonies Baptists rocked along, not making headway until the Revolution. Then, Baptists sided with the revolutionaries. Baptist numbers swelled.

Fear words: liberal, communist, terrorist

All this to say that we as Christians need to be wary of cries such as “Terrorists!” Is our government pursuing geopolitical goals, and manufacturing consent by hiding its real ambitions beneath a banner that most Americans will accept?

All this is so murky. People who profit from our ignorance don’t want us to know the truth.

But I’ve discovered some things that average people can do.

Fair Trade expresses faith and solidarity

One thing is buy Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, and crafts. The Free Trade agreements impoverish the farmers and workers who produce these goods while those who roast the coffee beans and sell it in North America make huge profits.

Fair Trade, on the other hand, assures that the producer—the small farmer—receives a little more and the goods are sold at less profit to the end of the line seller.

A Pound of Free Trade Coffee

 Farmer receives about 25 cents from buyer

 Coffee is Imported to the U.S. for about 61 cents

 Coffee is Roasted and Sold to the Coffee Company

 Your Retailer buys it from the Roaster and sells it for about $10.00

A Pound of Fair Trade Coffee

 Farmer Receives 90 cents from Cooperative

Cooperative Sells to Fair Trade Company for $1.26

Fair Trade Company Roasts Coffee and Sells it to you for $6.00

Source: SHARE Foundation here.

In memory of Romero and others martyred in El Salvador, Roman Catholics and others founded

the SHARE Foundation here

 helps accomplish the goals of the people to improve their lives: education for their children, food and peace.

Increasingly, consumers ask about the worker who produced the goods they are buying. Both Fair working conditions, wages, and sustainability are concerns.

Christ followers must take the lead in asking such questions.

Your Sunday morning coffee
can be Fair Trade coffee!

It seems to be a little thing. But in fact it is not. Check out Fair Trade facts here.

Solidarity

A beautiful word. We belong together. On the night of his arrest Christ prayed that God’s people might be One. What happens to the West Bank Palestinian who is barred from land that his ancestors have farmed for hundreds of years,  cocoa farmer in Africa, and the coffee farmer in El Salvador happens to me.

In 19th century England anti-slavery forces promoted the boycott of sugar because the working conditions of slaves on plantations in the West Indies were sub-human. William Wilberforce worked in Parliament for 26 years  to end slave trafficking in the British Empire.

How can we imagine that we might have stood with Wilberforce or Bonhoeffer or Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi or Oscar Romero, when we won’t do such a small thing as find out about those who grow our coffee and act to assure them Fair Trade.