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Promoting Lent Event
through placement of regular announcements during your service is
important to maximise awareness and participation. Please use these
announcements as specified. These are also available in the
coordinators guide. Please see also Press Releases for Notices.
A
- Sunday 20th January, 2008
“More
than 800 million people in our world today do not have enough food
to live on. Is that figure so big that it rolls past you without
having too much impact? Consider this; we live in a world
where the 225 richest people have a combined wealth of $1 trillion.
That’s equal to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5
billion poorest people. Such inequity must surely challenge us
all.
If you are thinking, “This is wrong, but what could I ever do about
it?” - here is a suggestion: Participate in Lent Event and take a
stand against the injustice
of world poverty. The idea is simple. Give up an item or two from
your lifestyle during the forty days of Lent and donate the money
saved to help some of the
world’s poorest communities.
You
do not spend an extra dollar. You give up a nonessential item such
as our daily newspaper or cappuccino and redistribute a small
portion of the world’s resources to those who do not receive their
fair share.
Lent
begins on Ash Wednesday, which is 6th February. Next week I will be
telling you a little about the life changing projects that Lent
Event supports.
What
would you be willing to live without for 40 days? Please take home
a Lent Event brochure today and give prayerful consideration to
your decision.”
B - Sunday 27th January, 2008
“I
would like to tell you about Lifalaza. Lifalaza is an orphan living
in Mwandi, Zambia. Zambia’s poverty rate is one of the highest in
the world, with 86% of the
population living below the poverty line. Both Lifalaza’s parents
have died from HIV /AIDS. Until recently he had no hope of gaining
an education and no real hope for the future. But Lifalaza’s life
has been turned around by the work of the Orphaned and Vulnerable
Children’s project. Lifalaza is now able to attend a
drop-in centre which offers health education, workshops, two
nutritional meals a day and a safe place for children to meet and
socialise. The children are also given school uniforms and are
supported in their daily needs, including such basic things as
toothbrushes and weekly showers.
I
would also like you to meet Usha. Usha lives in the Nilgiri Hills
in South India. Her parents are illiterate and work in the tea
plantations. Her future would have been no different – long hours
of manual labour, an arranged marriage at a young age and a life of
poverty. But the Integrated Tribal Development project has offered
her a new future. Pre-schools in the villages prepare the children
to start school and give them nutritious meals, health care and
clothes. The project then supports the children to continue on with
their education in the state schools. Now Usha dreams of
becoming a teacher.
These
are just two of the five life changing projects that Lent Event
supports. Remember, the idea is simple. We give up an item or two
from our comfortable lifestyle during the forty days of Lent and
donate the money we save to the Lent Event projects. We challenge
ourselves to do without for a short time to assist those who lack
the basic essentials of life - all of the time.
Your
40 days of giving can make a life worth living. Please continue to
pray about your involvement in Lent Event.”
C - Sunday 3rd February, 2008
“Lent
Event challenges us to forgo an item for the forty days of Lent and
to donate the savings to lifechanging Lent Event projects in the
developing world.
Lent
Event is about changing the world by changing the way we live in
the world.
The beauty of Lent Event is that our own small sacrifices
constantly remind us of how difficult life is for some of our
brothers and sisters in impoverished communities.
As
you miss your favourite drink with your evening meal, you are
reminded that there are millions who have no evening
meal.
As
you walk to school instead of taking the bus, you are reminded of
the children from the Sudan who have never had the chance to go to
school.
As
you give up that cup of coffee and have a glass of water instead,
you remember all those who do not have access to clean, safe
water.
Have you thought about what you will give up? Would anyone like to
share with us all what you plan to give up? (allow
responses)
Suggestions if ideas are not flowing:
newspaper
coffee
snack foods
take away meals
dining out
driving to work (catch public transport)
junk food, (cakes or lollies etc)
If you haven’t yet decided what to give up, you are running out of
time! Lent starts on Wednesday. Please take a brochure
today.
Let’s
be open to changing ourselves as we seek to change the
world.”
NB. If your group is running the commencement liturgy on the
same day as this announcement, please say:
“We will be celebrating the Lent Event commencement liturgy
later in the service today.”
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