I'm quite glad that the trends on twitter and status changes on facebook have moved on from horse meat to snow. The idea of horse meat in burgers was little surprise to me, but the abundance of horse jokes and pictures of horses lying on tesco tills really freaked me out. I couldn't look. I'm a little sick of the snow statuses and pictures now though (although I do confess to posting one earlier this week - but I WAS first!). We've had snow lying on the ground all week. My road has been an ice rink for the last few days and every time I drive off the drive I hear the crunch and feel the slip.....
We get caught up in the hype. When we exclaim louder that the meat in our burgers is horse (which actually won't hurt you) than we exclaim about people who have to eat food out of the bins and gutters then we have got our priorities wrong. In being caught up in the hype we miss the other stuff that is going on, we miss the injustice, the human beings who are treated worse than we might treat a horse. The current government appears to use this as a diversion tactic.... bringing in the possibility of a referendum in Europe so we forget about the people who are being left destitute because of the welfare reforms..... blaming the European Union for immigrants who apparently cost lots of money so we forget that companies are dodging tax.
Trouble is, is that we are mostly selfish. The content of our burgers is a lie to us - an infringement of our rights, whereas the content of the pay packets and the treatment of the people who make our chocolate doesn't matter, so long as we pay as little as possible.
I was challenged last week that actually it is not about my life being comfortable first, but it is God first. In God's care for humanity I need to be prepared to step off what is normal and take risks to do things differently. I am not called to where I am because it's easy or because I am called to do nice things that are comfortable and make us happy, but I am called to where I am to live for God. The status quo is not the ultimate goal. If this means going to the uncomfortable places, doing the things that I find most difficult, not having something that I really really want, then that's the way it's got to be. Easy to say, hard to comprehend.
So this week I'm considering changing my bank. I cannot justify any more staying with a bank that supports the arms trade, that is reported consistently as being unethical. I've considered it before, but this time I'm going to go for it. I hope. Unless the comfort of being where I am familiar with yet again becomes the excuse for putting myself first.
