The Millenium Development Goals (from 6/22/06)

Note: This post was written during the Episcopal Church's General Convention, in the summer of 2006.

There has been much talk in the media this week about “schism” and separation in the Anglican Communion. On Tuesday, we heard that Archbishop Rowan Williams is calling for the establishment of something called an “Anglican Covenant” system whereby churches who have taken positions that challenge the understandings of the wider church on sexuality might be “churches in association” of the Anglican communion rather than “Constituent churches.” Such a system will take years to discuss and implement. For now, we are, if a bit uneasily, still all together. One of the interesting challenges that has come up in the last few years has been to define exactly what it is that the Anglican Communion is and does—no small matter. Stay tuned, and don’t believe everything you see on TV!

In other Convention news, the Millennium Development Goals were officially adopted as part of our ministry strategy for the Episcopal Church. The Millennium Development Goals propose that we in the “developed world” (a problematic, but useful, designation) have the power to abolish extreme poverty. Which is defined as living on one dollar a day or less. If we all donate just 0.7% of our budgets and income (that’s all of us—me and you and the government and Bill Gates), this is actually possibly in the next ten years. You may have heard of the goals from rock star Bono’s work on the ONE Campaign:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.

It is the stranger to whom we are always called, always reaching further and further out, always struggling to embody Christ’s love for all God’s creation. As Matthew 25 says, as we do it to the least of these, we do it to Christ—imagine Jesus Christ dying of malaria, or as a little girl whose parents cannot afford to send her to school, or as an orphan whose parents have died of AIDS. It is that work that the MDG’s seek to promote.

The affirmation of this work—from ALL sides of the political spectrum—is a sign that whatever divides us in political or social sentiment, the Gospel always invites us to seek and serve Christ in all people. We may be in various structures of communion with our fellow Anglicans, but it is only the work we do for God’s people that ultimately has the power to unite us.