Posted Monday 28 May 2007
Bob Nesmith of sister diocese, the Diocese of Kentucky, reflects on his recent visit to Glasgow:
“‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ John 13:35.
“I subscribe to too many magazines. They pile up on our coffee table and in my office until I either throw them out or take a trip. Usually when I go somewhere that involves flying I pack as many as I can into my carryon bag in hopes of discarding them while on the trip. When I left Louisville last month for my trip to Scotland to spend a week with a group from Kentucky, Rwanda and Scotland I had a bag full. On the flight over I read a recent issue of Sojourners magazine that described the problems resulting from the free trade pacts that the US has created.
“During my trip I learned the difference between free trade and fair trade. This reflection does not give adequate space to explain why the free trade agreements that the US has pushed so hard, and that I had thought were good for all, are helping large US companies at the expense of small local producers in other countries. For those who are bothered by this the fair trade movement is a way to assure that those producers receive a fair price for their goods and labor.
“In Louisville fair trade has meant bad coffee and cheap trinkets, until recently. Now at least one store sells quality merchandise and we can buy good coffee. But we still have a long way to go to catch up with the Scots who have embraced fair trade as a country. In Marks & Spencer, one of Britain’s largest food chains, I saw aisles of fair trade food products. Newspaper ads highlighted fair trade fashion clothing.
“One of my ‘to do’s’ on returning home is to try to encourage interest in understanding the economic issues among my friends and colleagues and create at least a small body of people who will embrace the value of buying fair trade products. I believe this is a moral issue because free trade is creating poverty while fair trade helps eliminate poverty. It is also another way of saying to the world that not all Americans are blind to the effects of our government’s actions.
“The passage from John was read in many of our churches last Sunday. Judged by what one sees in the media about Christians one would find it hard to accept that we believe what Jesus said. Only by our actions can we refute that. So I close with a quote from Barbara Grafton, a New York writer who posted this in her email on Friday:
“‘Who will know we are Christians by our love? Everyone, Jesus says. The love we show won’t be primarily seen in the negative, as a simple list of things from which we refrain. It will probably be a story of things we do, ways in which we step into a hurting world and actively participate in its healing. People will see it - not just us, not just the insiders. Everyone.’
“PS: I have just returned from spending most of the week in Washington, DC. While there I had the opportunity to meet with our Senator Mitch McConnell, who is the Republican leader of the Senate. I shared with him my concern about our free trade policies and what I had observed in Scotland.”
Category: Church in Society Action Network, General
