Some of them are in our neighbourhood, some are in other parts of the country, and many of them are across the globe – all of us united with our common love of Jesus and our desire to worship him.
But we are connected to those communities by more than just our faith. Our trade – and the way we trade – has a direct impact on people we will never know and never meet but whose lives can be made richer or poorer by the choices we make when we go shopping.
When we change our shopping habits so that we buy things like fairly traded tea, coffee, sugar or bananas, our actions change things for people on the other side of the world.
Sometimes, it is both worship AND what we buy that are our common connections.
That link between our faith and our actions seems to be what the prophet Isaiah had in mind in Chapter 58 of his book.
It’s a blistering attack on meaningless gestures and empty observance devoid of genuine commitment. We cannot claim to love and serve God if we do not also love and serve His world by seeking justice for the oppressed, freedom for the enslaved, and shelter for the lost, says Isaiah.
It’s also an interesting challenge in this season of Lent when traditionally we give up things as a mark of our Christian commitment. Here’s Isaiah telling us to take up things as part of that commitment, things like justice, righteousness and love.
And you know what? It’s not as difficult as you might think. So just pop the kettle on while you read how…..
Take, for instance, tea. Just as we make time away from work on a Sunday to come to church, so do communities in the tea-growing communities of Kibena, in Tanzania, and Sahyadri, in Kerala, India, two of Traidcraft’s suppliers.
Tea is one of those things we all take for granted. After all, what could be nicer - or easier to make - than a simple cup of tea?
Yet for small-holder tea growers and estate workers across Africa and Asia, tea is proving the key to a better life and a more hopeful future for them and their communities.
Which is why tea is a major feature for the next five years for both the Traidcraft trading company and its associated charity, Traidcraft Exchange.
Traidcraft Exchange has been working in the Indian tea industry for several years to address the crisis which has seen falling tea prices and estate closures. Small tea growers and tea workers have lost income, increased their debt, and face an uncertain future.
The Just Tea project is helping more than 230,000 smallholder tea growers to realise fairer terms of trade through an assessment of opportunities in the domestic market, business development support and advocacy aimed at improving legislation in the industry.
Meanwhile, Traidcraft plc, working with Teadirect, is increasing market opportunities and improving livelihoods for growers and workers in Tanzania, Uganda. Kenya, Sri Lanka and India, through its tea purchases.
Tea has some great qualities:
- Approximately 40% of the UK’s fluid intake today will be tea
- Tea without milk has no calories. Using semi-skimmed milk adds around 13 calories per cup, but you also benefit from valuable minerals and calcium
- Tea with milk provides 21% of daily calcium requirement in 4 cups
- Tea contains some zinc and folic acid
§ Tea with milk contains Vitamin B6, Riboflavin B2 and Thiamin B1
- Tea is a source of the minerals manganese, essential for bone growth and body development, and potassium, vital for maintaining body fluid levels
- The average cup of tea contains less than half the level of caffeine than coffee. One cup contains only 50mg per 190ml cup
- Tea is a natural source of fluoride and drinking four cups makes a significant contribution to your daily intake
But all of this goodness stays within a teabag as long as you keep it in the box and don’t add water.
It’s the same with us as Christians and as a church. We can sing and pray and preach about justice and good news for the poor, but we really need to take action, to be a catalyst for God’s love.
Great if we decide to serve tea in our churches – we are releasing some of the goodness and the benefits.
But if we don’t do the same in our homes, in our work – and encourage more people to do the same – then we keep the potential trapped in a box. And that potential has far-reaching effects, because it can mean better healthcare, better education, better homes for people involved in the tea industry.
We know that Jesus described himself as living water, and one of the ways of bringing his love and justice to the world’s poor is to be a catalyst for him…. Like water in a teapot….. releasing the goodness and benefits of tea… and fair trade.
Can you think of a better reason for making yourself a nice cup of tea?
To find out more about Traidcraft and its work call 0191 4976465 or go to www.traidcraft.co.uk.
This article first appeared in the Universe, March 2007
