Design you own 'mini marcher' and join the campagin here.  Look out for Catriona G... my mini me who is in the line somewhere!!

Adults

Hunger is the world’s number one health risk.  Every year, it kills more people than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Give 50p for each meal and 20p for each snack you will eat today.

That one seems pretty straightforward - breakfast, lunch, tea - £1.50; I rarely have snacks, but today we have our monthly social evening so will be snacking on pancakes (yum!) so 20p for that; total £1.70.  The sobering thought is that my daily cup of coffee costs more than that... a small skinny fairtrade latte from the shop opposite church is £2.15, which does rather give a different take on a pledge of £1.70.  So I will up my pledge to match the coffee cost at £2.15, which goes a small way towards the salving of conscience!

My Pledge

Today - £2.15

Total - £14.25, three prayers and a little strop!

Another Sunday, and another choice from BPW's Lent and Passiontide section...

This one takes me back to primary school days, rows of children standing in a hall, accompanied by a slightly out of tune piano, and not always having a clue what it all meant.  The haunting tune Heinlein remains a favourite, and I love this classic lenten hymn, even if the BPW version has lost some of the original poetry (I love the original line 'chilly dewdrops nightly shed' in verse 2):

Forty days and forty nights

You were fasting in the wild;

Forty days and forty nights

Tempted and yet undefiled.

Burning heat throughout the day,

Bitter cold when light had fled;

Prowling beast around your head,

Stones your pillow, earth you bed.

Let us your endurance share

And from earthly greed abstain,

With you watching unto prayer

With you strong to suffer pain.

Then if evil on us press,

Flesh or spirit to assail,

Victor in the wilderness,

Help us not to swerve of fail!

G H Smyttan altd.

Adults

Colombia has the second highest number of internally displaced people in the world. In the last 25 years, the armed conflict has forced more than 8% of the population off their land. Christian Aid partners, local communities and their leaders, like Misael risk their lives to speak out, calling on the government to protect their lives and their rights.

Pray for safety and strength for people all over the world who face violence and persecution for taking a stand against injustice.

Children

Licri Bueno is from the Dominican Republic, a beautiful country in the Caribbean. Lots of people there live in poverty. Licri’s mum was helped by Christian Aid partner Solidaridad Fronteriza to set up a vegetable garden. The garden means that Licri and his family are able to grow lots of healthy food! Licri often helps his mum in the garden and with lots of other household chores too. Offer to help your family or neighbours with chores in exchange for a small donation for Christian Aid. You could offer to help wash the car or dig the garden.

Again, as I read these challenges, a song or two came into my head, I opted for this one, and then added my own response...

I will speak out for those who have no voices,

I will stand up for the rights of all the oppressed;

I will speak truth and justice,

I’ll defend the poor and the needy,

I will lift up the weak in Jesus’ name.

I will speak out for those who have no choices,

I will cry out for those who live without love;

I will show God’s compassion

To the crushed and broken in spirit,

I will lift up the weak in Jesus’ name.

Dave Bankhead, Sue Rinaldi, Ray Goudie &Steve Bassett.

                Copyright © 1990 Word’s Spirit of Praise  Music/Adm. by CopyCare

But will I turn my song to actions?

And will I live the faith I claim?

And will I be the face of Jesus

In a world of endless grief and pain?

I am weak, and flawed, and broken,

I am compromised and torn

Yet, this need must find expression...

Even if all I do is pray.

My Pledge

Today - I will pray for those who stand up for injustice

Total - £12.10, three prayers and a little strop!

Adults

At least 37.6% of the world’s population live under authoritarian regimes.

Give £1 if you did not use your vote in the last local or general election

DID NOT USE YOUR VOTE! Never!  From as long as I can remember, my Dad dinned it into us that we must always vote, that people died to get us the  vote, that voting was a privilege not a right, that even if we spoiled out ballot paper as a protest we must still get out here and do it.  A cheap day, financially, but a sobering one, given how many people don't bother to play their part in the democratic processes we take for granted.

My pledge

Today - one mild rant!

Total - £12.10, two prayers and some incredulity!