Adults

While Christian Aid partners delivered life-saving food aid in Ethiopia during the drought of 2011, for many people the most pressing need was to save their livestock, which are their livelihoods.

Hereg Dane had already lost half her animals, but Christian Aid partner Agri Service enclosed a piece of land so her community could grow fodder without it being destroyed by wild animals or livestock. Thanks to this vital enclosure, Hereg has been able to save the rest of her herd.

Give 20p for each pet you’ve had that you could easily care for without worrying about food shortages.

Children

Around 100 million people in the world are homeless, and over 40 million people have been forced to leave their homes because it wasn’t safe there. Draw a picture of your home, and give 5p for each room in your house.

How fortunate we are in the wealthy weat that we can keep animals simply for the pleasure of their company or entertainment value.

So, pets I (we?) have had.  Well OK...

Cats

Tinker and Tiddles - short-haired black and white

Tig and Tag - short haired tabbies

Sailor, her daughter Smudge, her daughter Whitey and her daughter Kizzy... strays adopted by our neighbours and us, who never quite got neutered in time!  Sailor outlived all her off-spring

Dusty - my first cat, a short-haired black-tabby who oived fourteen years and died of mammary cancer.

Holly - long-haired black and white who shares my home.

Dogs

Benny - a pedigree golden Labrador; a failed army dog who had to be rehomed again as he failed to settle

Lassie - a rough collie, also a rescue dog, whose nbame cam ewith her, and who lived to a ripe old age and brought much joy to my parents

Rabbits

Twinkle - a black and white dutch, second hand, and eventaully rehomed

Hazel - named after the Watership Down character, again second hand and re-homed elsewhere

Guinea Pigs

To my shame I have not a clue what our second hand guinea pigs were called; all I do recall is that when me moved house, they died a day apart, within the week we arrived there.

I am choosing not to inlcude hens my dad kept for eggs, the mice or goldfish my sister kept, nor the budgie who belonged to my brother... though maybe I ought to count Tommy the frog I grew from a tadpole (Tommy Tadpole) when I was six...

However I count it, that's a lot of animals!  Seventeen (inlcuding Tommy) if my arithmetic is correct!  So that comes to £3.40 at 20p a go.

My Pledge

Today - £3.40

Total - £29.25, six prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed

Adults

More than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated, polluting rivers,
lakes and coastal areas.

Give thanks that we don’t have to worry about what happens when we flush the toilet

Children (should have been yesterday but fits better today)

It might not seem like much of a luxury to have a toilet but there are 2.5 billion people around the world who don’t have anywhere clean or private to go to the toilet. In very poor neighbourhoods in Kenya, people have to use ‘flying toilets’ where they have no choice but to go to the toilet in a plastic bag and then throw it away. This is dirty and can cause diseases to spread. 12-year-old Jeremiah who lives in Matopeni, Kenya, says: ‘It’s dirty and we get sick… it smells bad.’

Give 10p for every time you used a clean, flushing toilet today!

Among my earliest recollection's is the "fairy at the bottom of the garden"... an outside toilet at the far side of the backyard of the cottage we lived until I was five.  I can, if I concentrate, recall the smell, not of anything nasty, just the damp mortar or bricks, and the cold air.  Moving to a house with a bathroom with hot water on tap, and no more need for my mother to boil saucepans of water for us to wash... pure luxury!  More than four decades on I am very privileged, with an en-suite shower room, meaning I can roll out of bed and attend to the necessary; if I have guests they can have exclusive use of the bathroom.

Caution, you may find this prayer a bit irreverent

God of small things, of insignificant things,

We recall that somewhere in scriptures you laid out rules for lavatorial hygiene.

You claimed to find poo offensive, saying it msut be done outside the camp

And we, with our scientific heads, interpret that as a 'good idea'

Keeping sources of disease out

But now, we in the west give no heed

To how our excrement is processed

Carried away in sewers or drained from septic tanks

Treated to remove debris and other nasties

And safely dispensed, we know what where.

Thank you

For those who had the foresight to dig out sewers and build treatment plants

(Complete with their unique, seasonal pong)

For the water companies

For the people who fix burst water mains and replace worn sewers

For the people who repair or replace out broken loos

For the manufacturers of toilet rolls and toiler fresheners

Bleach, loo brushes and plungers

For the 'green toilets' and 'grey toilets' in country parks

And portaloos at public events and permanent public conveniences

Thank you that we not only pee in private

But do so without giving it a second thought

Amen

Today - one prayer

Total -  £25.85, six prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed

The white smoke... the baited breath... the announcement in Latin... the ceremonial robing and first public appearance... the expectations thrust onto the shoulders of this man who can never go back to what he once was...

There is a really good little blog post here that responds to the news.

I do not envy Pope Francis his role/task one iota, one jot, one tittle.  To be the figure head for the largest single Christian grouping on the planet, to have to try to shape and lead such a diverse community, and to do so in the public eye.  A very tough call.

But I do pray for him, that he will be able to maintain his integrity and vision amidst the clamouring voices that will assail him; that he will not become disillusioned or disappointed; that he will be supported and encouraged by those of all theological hues within the Roman Communion, and respected by those outside of it.  Above all, I pray that he will be able to hear clearly what God's Spirit says to him, and have the courage and strength to follow that leading, though it be surprising or risky.

Because of how my brain works, I realise I said nothing about the appointment of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury.  My prayers for him match those for Pope Francis.

Adults

About 20% of the population in the developed nations consume 86% of the world’s goods.

Give £1 if you replaced an electronic item this year, instead of getting it repaired.

I could just be quite smug today, as I have not replaced any electronic items in the last twelve months, because none were faulty or broken.  I wonder, if this challenge is aimed not so much at repairing broken things (a lot of electronic stuff is designed so that it can't be repaired) or even about replacing items that are no longer meeting the need (e.g. a very old television to which a digibox could not be attached) as about 'designed obsolescence'?  Most electronic equipment is designed with the expectation that it will be replaced in, maybe, at most, two years.  New generations of mobile technology, new releases of software that are not 'downward' compatible and so on.  And of course these industries are major employers... Oh dear, it's all way more complicated once you start to think about it!

Just for your amusement, this is the mobile phone I have for work use (and it does everything I need):

My pledge

Today - zero, but some thinking!

Total - - £25.85, five prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed

This week is proving quite demanding, not overwhelmingly so, but pretty comprehensively.  I realised yesterday that it is now likely that I will be working straight through until Easter Sunday with, at most half a day off.  That's not so unusual for ministers, but it made me think.

Life is fragile, and life is precious.  There have been many reminders of that in a week that, but for the grace of God, could have been very different.  Tragedy is only ever a few steps away, and it is just as well we have no way of knowing if or when our path will bring us to that place.

Much of the stuff I am dealing with is not for public consumption, mainly because it is confidential, so you will have to wonder!

God who has shared the depths of sorrow and despair

Who has experienced the fragility of human life

Who has wept at the graveside of a friend

Who has stared into the abyss

Who has been through the mystery of death

Comfort all who weep

Embrace those who ask 'why?'

Strengthen all who are numb

Vulnerable God, hear our prayer.