as i sat down at our red formica table to a cup of rasberry leaf tea this morning, a copy of Salient the unerversity magazine was conveniantly left in front of me by some thoughtful person last night.
 
this little spurb bounced out at me,
 
Whats Coffee got to do with Jesus?
 
As part of jesus week on Mon Wed Thur and Fri from 11 to 1 we will be giving out fairly traded coffee. An integral part of following Jesus is seeking to act with justice, and challenging injustice in its different forms in our society. The bible is full of teaching about social justice, for example the question asked 'what does the Lord require of you?" and the answer given is "to act justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (micah 6;8) Jesus led a life which challanged social norms, and he criticised his contemporaries for living a life based on rules, while neglecting the most inportant things; justice, mercy and faithfulness (matthew 23;23) He commands us to "love Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind"and to " love your neighbour as yourself"(matthew 22:37-39)
Although the international trade system is unjust , we can use our consumer power to stop exploitative trading practices that perpetuate poverty. We can think about how we spend our money and choose to avoid products made under exploitive conditions. One seeingly small example is the purchase and comsumption of coffee. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, but growers and pickers, predominantly in third world countries, only recieve between 5-10% of what we pay for a cup of coffee. an alternative is the purchase of fair trade coffee, which simply ensures that producers are paid a fair price for the goods they produce. If you would like to know more about Trade Aid, feel free to stop by our stall.
 
-rosie fyle-
 
Any grammer or spelling mistakes are mine not hers