Schori: More MDG'S and Shalom

A new year is a fine time to search for shalom, Isaiah-style
Katharine Jefferts Schori: Credo
December 30, 2006

As one year closes and another opens, many of us turn to the making of resolutions. Consider what might happen if all of us resolved to make 2007 the beginning of a new era in which the hungry are fed, the ill cured, the young educated and women and men treated equally. What if all had access to clean water and adequate sanitation, basic healthcare and the promise of development that does not endanger the rest of creation?

For people of all faiths and for those who claim no faith, the Millennium Development Goals provide a way in which together we can achieve greater global good by leading local lives intent upon the eradication of poverty and disease.

Set forth by the UN in 2000, the MDGs are consonant with the core beliefs of the world’s great religions. Indeed, they help Christians to bring hands and feet to the great commandment to love God and our neighbours as ourselves. The goals offer a form of deed-based evangelism that reminds people of faith that we can do little to improve a person’s spiritual health while that person contends with starvation or disease. the rest