Micah Morphosis

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Friday January 5, 2007

January 04, 2007

Welcome and a blessed and peaceful New Year to you! We hope you will enjoy using these reflections with us!

Reflection

Irish musician Bono called the Millennium Development Goals “the beatitudes for a globalised world”. This inspired Bishop Christopher Gregorowski from Cape Town to see the 8 MDGs as Jesus might see them.

Reading the beatitudes in Matthew 5: 1-12 and then looking at the ‘beatitudes for a globalised world’ these offer us a possibility to reflect on what might be important to Jesus today: eight offers of blessings to people who are concerned about meeting their responsibilities as citizens of God’s Kingdom.

Prayer

Please pray:

§ That we will be faithful citizens in God’s kingdom and have the courage to carry out its up-side down values.

§ Please pray for the Micah Challenge called “Stop Armut” in Switzerland as they plan activities for the new year:

· for the campaign team under the leadership of Markus Meury as they seek to mobilize Swiss churches to make poverty an issue in their churches which reflects God’s heart to the poor.

· for the regional volunteers meeting on 5th February in Bern. Pray that those involved will be encouraged and newly motivated in their fellowship with each other.

§ From the statistics below you may wonder if Mobile phones or telephone lines are of interest to God?

The answer is probably ‘yes’ when they are seen as tools for development to e.g. increase people’s ability to communicate in emergencies or for the sharing of important information.

o Please pray for the wise use of ICT (Information Communication Technology) in both rich and poor countries and for the organisations who work to improve this sector in development.

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Meditate on the Statistics

As you spend time in prayer and reflection, you may like to take a moment to silently understand with your heart the focus statistic we include each week (see below). Our hope is that you will find this series of statistics a useful resource in preparing presentations.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development (trade/aid/debt)

Target 18: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Indicator 47: Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population

‘The country with the most telephone mainlines are Mauritius and the Seychelles, with 288 and 253 per 1,000 people, respectively. The countries with the fewest telephone mainlines are the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad, with less than one and one per 1,000 people, respectively.

The average for Sub-Saharan Africa is 10 mainlines per 1,000 persons and 74 mobiles phones per 1,000 people. In 44 out of the 48 SSA countries (92%), there are more mobile phones per 1,000 people than mainlines per 1,000 people.’

Source: Statistics from Sub Sahara Africa, World Bank, October 2006

Yours in Christ,

Regine, Jill and Michael

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BEATITUDES FOR A GLOBALISED WORLD

‘Irish musician Bono called the Millennium Development Goals “the beatitudes for a globalised world”. This inspired me to see the 8 MDGs as Jesus might see them.’

Bishop Christopher Gregorowski, Cape Town

Jesus said, “You are blessed when you are merciful: you will receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:5)

You are blessed when you seek bread for the hungry: you will be filled.

You are blessed when you provide schooling for all girls and boys: you will see God’s light.

You are blessed when you support women and girls in their quest for empowerment and equality: the power of God’s Spirit is yours.

You are blessed when you bring vulnerable children to health and strength: you will be healed and strengthened.

You are blessed when you seek the health of pregnant women and young mothers: you will be called God’s children.

You are blessed when you strive to combat HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases: you will receive mercy.

You are blessed when you care for my creation, and seek clean water and sanitation for all, and a better life for slum dwellers: you will inherit the earth.

You are blessed when you open your borders to fair trade and your budgets to sound development: you will be richly rewarded.

You are blessed when you are persecuted for being just and seeking justice in the world: you are members of my family – for just as you do these things for your sisters and brothers in need, you do them for me.

Posted by micahadmin on January 4, 2007 01:09 PM