Some [charities] just aren't 'sexy'. And then there are those which are bound to raise moral outrage in some quarters whenever money finds its way to them. Bolton-based charity Befriending Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Brass) shies away from rattling tins on the streets of the Lancashire town, perhaps wary that not everyone might be sympathetic.
So perhaps it is a Christian duty to search out the less 'sexy' in order to make sure that there is a counter-balance to the modern version of those who shout loudest getting the attention [those who shout sexiest?]. It certainly should get us asking what should be our priorities for charitable giving. One of the reasons that I'm a little cautious about things like red-nose day, is that it seems to me that while they undoubtedly promote a lot of good, the habits of mind they are playing, actually reinforcing, are not those that would promote the kind of regular focus on the needs of the world that are really required in order to make a real difference. Giving as an occasional pass-time is good as far as it goes but in order to really change the world we need to find ways to encourage people to engage with the real problems, of which we are actually a part of creating in too many cases. The irony of events to fund projects in the two-thirds world with methods that are deeply rooted in the system that has gone a long way to creating the conditions that the charities are seeking to remedy ...
Anyway, the other point I wanted to make, on the back of this, was that I have been for a long time convicted that as Christians our praying is rather the same. We pray for the latest and neediest matter off the tele, or from the 'papers but what about the things that don't make it to the papers? Are our prayers and prayer priorities to be led, in effect, by the editorial biases of the BBC news or ITN news -or Rupert Murdoch's empire?
Further reflection on this is to be found here.
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Giving to a lost cause?:
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