Often times as Christians it’s easy to support political agendas that are hot button issues. We rally behind causes that make good protest signs. We pour our efforts (and our offerings) into certain causes while blindly turning our backs on others. We let people go hungry. We let the sick suffer and we let the poor go without.
I think it's time to examine what we are really called to do as Christians. What does God really want?
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:17-18
We are blessed in America. We are the "haves". Our brothers and sisters in Africa are going without. They are suffering yet we do nothing. Is this the right path for Christ's church?
In Africa the four horsemen of the Apocalypse have been unleashed. This has been well documented in the media through the past two decades. Famine and drought has crippled parts of the north and east of Africa, from the Sudan and Chad to the northeast horn of Somalia and Ethiopia, thousands have died from malnourishment and contaminated drinking water. There was some spotlight on this in the 1980's with events like Band Aid but after a band aid to the gaping wound, we turned our attentions elsewhere... and our backs on Africa.
Just as prevalent a threat to the continent are the violent and bloody wars raging in many countries across the continent. The Darfur province of western Sudan is the scene of a decade long genocide where Christians continue to face persecution and death for their ethnic background and their beliefs.
West Africa is also the location of many bloody civil wars that often employ foot soldiers as young as twelve whose youths are stolen in an exchange for a Baryshnikov assault riffle.
But perhaps the biggest threat to the land is that of disease. HIV/AIDS has a grip on the future of Africa. The percentage of people with HIV in central and southern Africa is staggering. And entire generation is orphaned by their parents dying from the effects of AIDS. Left unchecked, Africa will suffer great losses from a little virus... which is ironically such a big foe. Can we sit idly by as so many suffer?
Last night I was channel suffering and I caught part of a Larry King Live where one of my life long heroes was discussing this very topic.
Through the years, Bono, lead singer of U2, has evolved from a prancing mullet-hair boy to a scruffy-faced Dylan-esque civil rights crusader.
The Irish rocker spoke eloquently about the crisis in Africa and the moral implications of inaction. He spoke with fire and conviction using the medium of cable news like an evangelist preacher uses a pulpit.
Bono was promoting his new project (RED) concerning AIDS and Africa, and he stated the follow:
You might think (our plan) sounds too simple. But AIDS is no longer a death sentence. Just two pills a day will bring someone who is at death's door back to full health, back to a full life. Doctors call it 'the Lazarus effect'. I’ve seen it myself and I have to say that it’s nothing short of a miracle. These pills are available at any corner drugstore. They cost less than a dollar a day, but the poorest people in Africa earn less than a dollar a day. They can’t afford them, and so they die. It's unnecessary. It's insane.
You might think it’s too difficult to get these drugs to the people who most need them...No. Can we do it? Absolutely. In 2001, there were 50,000 Africans taking ARVs. Now there are over one million people getting these life saving drugs thanks to President Bush's AIDS initiative, and thanks to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
There are though still 4.3 million Africans without drugs, which is why 100% of (RED) money is going directly to the Global Fund to support the work they are doing. (RED) uses the power in your pocket to keep people alive. ONE uses the power of your voice to create a more just world where people can earn their own way out of poverty.
But Bono suggests an amazing solution. It isn't another rock concert or congressional legislation. His new endeavor, called RED employs the American pocketbook to battle AIDS in Africa. Enlisting the help of major businesses like Apple, Gap, and Armani, they have created a special line of merchandise. Each time a RED product is purchased, a percentage of the proceeds goes directly to fighting AIDS in Africa.
It’s a beautiful plan. It takes away the bureaucracy of Washington or the U.N. and puts the power to act right in our own hands. If you really want to help a brother in need… reach into your pocket and support RED today!
Join RED
Learn about the Global AIDS Fund
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.'"
-Matthew 25:41-45
This is a matter of life or death, not just for little children in Africa but our charity may save our own lives as well... but perhaps not in the way you might think.
"...This is an emergency. And in these dangerous times, how we in the West respond is an opportunity to show what we stand for, as well as what we stand against. If we're successful, we will not only transform millions of people's lives, we'll transform the way these people see us ... and in turn, the world in which we live."
-Bono
It's not too late. It's too difficult. Saving lives can be as easy as taking a stand and supporting this mission. I highly encourage everyone to take a stand, join Bono's campaign and go RED to help our friends in need.
U2
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...life
One
Learn more about Bono's charitable works here
Bono: Time's person of the year 2005
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