EDITORIAL
RECTOR'S LETTER
A very big thank you to all those who supported Christian Aid Week last month. Your generosity makes a big difference.
You might like an avocado chopped up in a salad. Or you might choose to cut it in half and scoop out the delicious green flesh with a spoon. Or perhaps you enjoy a guacamole. What you might not know is that the avocado tree is related to the laurel family. Or that its fruit is actually a large berry that contains a single large seed.
The mere fact that you know what an avocado is, and could probably buy one in a shop close to you without too much difficulty, shows that most of us come from a generation privileged to be able to take the supply of food for granted. On the flipside, however, the use of food banks has grown exponentially in the UK in recent years, and, shockingly, malnutrition in children is no longer a thing of Victorian slums. The cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated the problem, and far too many people can never even consider buying an avocado.
In 2012, the United Nations Secretary-General launched the Zero Hunger Challenge to inspire a global movement towards a world free from hunger and malnutrition. It consists of five elements which, taken together, can end hunger and build inclusive and sustainable food systems. They are: to work towards sustainable food systems; to end rural poverty; to eliminate the loss or waste of food; to enable all people to access adequate food and healthy diets; to end malnutrition in all its forms.
Christians believe there is something greater than our human, bodily needs. That is not to make light of the misery of food poverty, bodily hunger and malnutrition. It’s a shocking statistic that there is more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone on the planet, yet as many as 783 million people still go hungry. Many Christians and church communities do as much as possible to alleviate hunger, both at home and abroad – whether that be through charitable giving, organising fundraising events or setting up and running food banks.
We are all hungry people. No matter how strong our faith, we’re all looking for something to sustain, nourish, feed and energise us – something that will fill and satisfy us. The problem is not that we are hungry, but the kind of bread we eat, and it is the work of a lifetime of faith to find it.
David