Contrasts

So, here it is, January in Duluth, Minnesota and we have had the coldest weather in 7 years with morning temperatures exceeding -20 (AIR TEMP!) on several occasions.  That kind of cold cements your eyelashes together from your own breath and leaves me wondering what in the world I am thinking to love winter!  The landscape is stark and it's hard to believe anything can thrive in this world of white and cold.

Contrast that with Africa - while some areas are experiencing their winter, others are in full summer and in high season for mosquitoes.  they are thriving and the female anopheles mosquito, which feeds at night, is continuing to spread malaria to unsuspecting people.  We don't really think about malaria anymore because it was eradicated in the U.S. years ago, but in Africa a child dies every 45 seconds from this disease, but only a short time ago it was every 30 seconds.  There is progress.

While we here in Duluth are in the deep freeze the families of impoverished Africa are fighting for their lives because of this mosquito.  Malaria is a both preventable and treatable but it is a disease of poverty that affects all aspects of life.

But now we are connected - those of us at Hope UMC in Duluth and those who are at risk for malaria in Africa.  We have joined our passion with the 11.5 million United Methodists worldwide to empower the continent of Africa to achieve a sustainable victory over malaria by 2015.  This ministry of care includes raising $75 million churchwide (over $2.5 million in Minnesota alone) to eliminate death and suffering of malaria.

Why does this matter to us?  When people are healthy they are more productive and can sustain their own lives and countries, so less aid is needed.  When people are healthy they can make choices for the future that they could not when malaria forced so much suffering and death.  And because Jesus calls us to help those in need, those suffering, those for whom the most basic need of life is not being met.

There the contrast ends.  Because both the people of Duluth and the people of Africa have compassion and the will to make a difference.  We come together because we understand we live in a world that has become a global community where when some of us suffer all of us suffer.

We sang it last week - "We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly, we are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God."

May you be warmed by the knowledge we are heeding God's call!