Fix the food system
The global food system is broken. It doesn’t work for those who work the hardest – small farmers – and it’s a major driver of the climate emergency.
Rupali learnt eco-friendly farming techniques from our partner organisation, the Bangladesh Association for Sustainable Development
“Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me… to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor?”
Two days on from Ash Wednesday, we may still be considering how best to respond to God’s invitation in this season of Lent. If so, today’s first reading offers some good ideas – albeit perhaps more challenging than simply going without wine or chocolate!
The prophet Isaiah challenges us to deepen our understanding of fasting. It is not simply sacrifice that is required, but solidarity. Our fasting is meant to move us outward, so we reach out to our sisters and brothers in acts of love and seek to make the world a fairer place.
As farmer Rupali, in southern Bangladesh, says so powerfully, “It’s not right if I always have food on my table, yet my neighbour barely has anything to eat.”
There is enough food to feed everyone on the planet, but, according to the UN, there are still 957 million people who do not have enough to eat. The global way in which food is grown, produced and consumed simply isn’t working for the poorest people. The climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic have just made things worse.
So this Lent, as we fast, let us see how we can support people in our local communities and in our worldwide family to get enough food to eat. Let us help fight the causes of hunger. And let us pray that our fast may be pleasing to God and contribute to a fairer world
Lent prayer
Generous God,
guide us to fast in the way that pleases you,
sharing our bread with hearts full of gratitude.
Amen.
Act
Stand in solidarity with small-scale farmers against laws, supported by the World Bank, which put control of the world’s seeds in the hands of a few giant corporations.