From the Minister's Desk
September 2010

My first response, when I looked at this graph, was to think “Thank goodness for Britain.”

My second was to think, “Where is the USA in this?” 

My next was to think “How on earth can China give anything at all when their own parallel disaster is almost as massive?“ 

The graph raises many questions, about our perceptions of fairness, our capacity to imagine what it is like to have your entire countryside totally washed away.  Australia has given less than a third of what the UK has given.  That’s not too bad when you consider that the population is less than a third of the UK. But for a nation that prides itself on fairness, it’s still way behind what the UK has already pledged.  One hopes that in a very short time the massive resources of some of the other larger countries will swing into gear.  I hope it isn’t too long. In the meantime, I hope that out of our abundance and good fortune will flow care and compassion and support for places and people so desperately in need. If Christ is Lord of all we are and have, then the response seems fairly clear.

Generosity of spirit is a curious thing. It often has less to do with the resources at hand than the resources at heart.
Bruce