Something to Think About
Thinking twice about how we live with the earth and our neighbors.

These thought-provoking short readings could be used in a youth group or as a Moment for Mission during worship services-or as part of the devotions at the start of any meeting.

Something to Think About

"Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf, big bad wolf." We can see the little piggies dancing around in their straw house as the wolf gathers his wind for another puff. Their confidence that they can avoid catastrophe is clearly unwarranted. It's easy to feel that way about something like global warming. It's hard to feel like there's a clear and present danger when seas are only rising by centimeters and temperatures by single digits.

Nature is not so casual about it. Birds and butterflies are already moving their nesting grounds. Life forms that can't so easily relocate-like tropical frogs and arctic polar bears-are beginning to disappear. Storm systems are increasingly erratic and violent.

Which brings us to humans. Global warming is already responsible for 150,000 deaths or so every year around the world. In another 40 years, grain production will dip by 267 million tons for the world's poor farmers, thanks to climate change. And it could lead to 25 million environmental refugees by mid-century.

Jesus said, "As you do it to the least of these.you do it to me." Something like global warming will affect the world's most marginalized people and many other living things. I guess we could say it will affect our Lord as well.  

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

Something to Think About

A Christian brother in El Salvador remarked about his experience working in a sweatshop: "They treated us like dogs!" Maybe he should be so lucky to have a dog's treatment- USA style, that is. The average pet in our society has $460 spent on it per year-that's more than 1.5 billion of the world's people have to live on in a year.

This kind of income drives people to sweatshops, the sex trade or-for young girls-to be domestic workers. This is work, yes; but it's work without dignity, and it is work that is often dangerous and degrading, especially for young women.

What do these people want from us? They don't want to be our mission or service project, but they do want our friendship and accompaniment. Certainly we could give more than we do toward their betterment, but they have things to give us as well-hospitality, faith, courage in the face of adversity.

"Do unto others."-as ancient as Jesus and as current as our neighbors' needs.

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

Something to Think About

Water, water everywhere. Or so it seems these days. Everywhere you look people are toting their water bottle. Better than other things we could be drinking, that's for sure. But even this seemingly pure beverage has a dark side. As in "petroleum."

It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture all the water bottles we use in the US every year. That's enough petrol to fuel 100,000 cars. What's worse, every day we throw away 40 million water bottles! That's enough to lay end-to-end from Hershey Park to Yellowstone Park -and back again!

And we'll spend about $9 billion on bottled water this year-while 1.1 billion people don't have clean water to drink.

"Give me a drink," our Lord said to the woman at the well. A simple request gone haywire in our over-consumptive world.

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

Something to Think About

This 13-year old girl was troubled. Not by the typical things-boys or clothes or parents-but by what she was learning about other young people half a world away. Child workers-kids like her who have to work for a living-were much more numerous than she had imagined. There were nearly 250 million of them! And they were in that predicament due to the poverty of their families.

What to do? First she asked her mom to use only a dollar a day to provide food for her, mirroring the $1 a day one billion people have to live on every day. She did it for a week-and survived (partly by lunchtime trashcan scavenging at school!). Then she did a class report that opened the eyes-and hearts-of her classmates. Finally, she set a goal to raise $1000 in the coming year for Give a Girl a Chance-a girls' education program that helps keeps young women from becoming child workers.

Remember the young boy who shared his lunch with the hungry crowd-and the crowd was fed? Can such things still happen today.?

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

Something to Think About

Climbing the world's tallest mountain just got easier! Yes, Mt. Everest is shorter now-four feet shorter, thanks to global warming melting down its icy summit.

What may be an easier hike for us will soon be making things harder for up to half the world's people. That's how much of the world's population depends on the slow release of mountaintop glaciers for their dry-season water supply. And now global warming is threatening to melt this ice, bringing a water crisis to millions of the world's already poor people.

Slowing global warming may seem like a Herculean task, but every mountain climb begins with the first step! Find a way to cut back on car use-our number one bad personal global warming habit! Reduce material consumption, as factories create large amounts of greenhouse gases. Eat lower on the food chain, and buy more local organically grown food. Replace one regular light bulb with a compact florescent one and save 500 pounds of CO2 in its lifetime. Stop using the dryer and save 1500 pounds per year!

See? It wasn't that hard to find steps to take.

"Let justice flow down like the waters." cried the ancient prophet. Still rings true today, eh?

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

Something to Think About

Some kids find it hard to get up for school in the mornings? Maybe this will make it easier-girls in southern Sudan walked 500 miles to get to school!

It's not easy being a girl in many parts of the world, and especially when it comes to getting an education. In southern Sudan , for instance, out of a school-age population of 1.4 million children, only 500 girls completed primary school last year! There are many reasons, including poverty, security, bias against educated girls, and early marriage.

We can help change this. The Give a Girl a Chance program educates communities in Sudan and elsewhere about the importance of girls' education, while providing aid for girls wanting to attend school. In Sudan , it costs about $120 to keep a girl in school for a year. That's about what a US teenager spends on him/herself in 10 days. Or about what some of us spend on coffee in a month or two.

"Let the children come." said Jesus. Those were radical words in his day-unfortunately, they still challenge us today.

Provided by the New Community Project ( www.newcommunityproject.org )

For previous Something to Think About, click here