One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. (The vicar then counted another fourteen sets of ten)

Anybody like Quavers? (The vicar then distributed fourteen packets of Quavers, one to each of those who had been selected)

OK, so can you all hold up your packets of Quavers just to check that you’ve all got a packet.

(To the rest of the congregation) Would you like some Quavers? Right (showing one packet of Quavers) that’s for you lot. That’s your share.

This is 10% of the world, and they have 90% of the food. Who would like to share 10% of the food with 90% of the world?

Now, eat your Quavers! Yes, this early in the morning, All happy? Do you like eating Quavers? You feel alright about eating Quavers here? You don’t mind? So you’re happy to watch everybody else sitting there watching you eat Quavers? Does that feel good? You’re quite happy about that?

Well actually it is what we do, isn’t it? We are perfectly happy to sit in our corner of the world the North, and watch the South not eat.

That’s what we’re going to do later on. Sorry folks, but we’re going to go over there in the hall where we have this massive spread and we are going to be part of the ten percent. So eat away, don’t feel guilty, because that’s what we do every day. Go on, don’t feel guilty about it, just enjoy your Quavers.

Actually we shouldn’t feel guilty about it. It’s not our fault that we are part of the 10%. I didn’t choose to be born in the North. It’s not my fault that my parents were living in Wakefield when I was born, and that I can have a packet of Quavers whenever I want a packet of Quavers. It’s not my fault. It’s not the fault of those who live in the South that they have to share one packet of Quavers between everybody. It’s not their fault.

And I don’t want us to feel guilty. At the service at eight o’clock this morning we talked about the fact that the Collect for this Sunday (rather than for Harvest Festival) the 19th Sunday after Trinity, says that we should leave the past in the past and strain onto that which is ahead.

That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. He said 'It’s OK to leave the past in the past'.

It is not our fault that we live in the North, and we can leave our guilt at the cross, because that’s why Jesus went to the cross so that we don’t need to feel guilty. Those of you in Home Groups are working through the forgiveness material at the moment. The point of this forgiveness material is that we should be doing it the other way round. In our liturgies we should come and hear the words of God’s forgiveness, and, because we know we are forgiven, because we know we are loved, because we know we are worthy, out of that knowledge flows our desire to say 'this is what’s wrong with me, this is what’s wrong with us, this is what’s wrong with the world'.

It is an outflowing of God’s love and our sense of being loved, that brings us to the point of forgiveness. Not grovelling to the foot of the cross in the hope that if we grovel hard enough, if we lay out our sins broadly enough, that perhaps, one day, God might be generous enough, might just be persuaded to forgive us. It doesn’t work like that. God’s forgiveness comes first, his mercy comes first, his love comes first, his compassion comes first. So enjoy your Quavers and don’t feel guilty.

But with privilege comes responsibility. So you who have Quavers have a responsibility. You who are privileged, you in the ten percent of the world with ninety percent of the food, you cannot just enjoy your Quavers – there must be a payback. It isn’t fair and we have a duty to listen to the words of Proverbs. A fantastic verse in Proverbs that many, many churches are focussing on this year. Proverbs 13 verse 23 -

'The field of the poor may yield much food but it is swept away through injustice'

The field of the poor grows the wheat that goes into our Quavers. The field of the poor grows the pineapples that we enjoy, the field of the poor makes our coffee, the field of the poor give us our bananas. Who likes bananas? Your privilege to be able to eat Quavers comes with responsibility, and I’d like to suggest that that responsibility can be taken seriously in our thinking about bananas.

Your responsibility now, together, is to make sure that that pack of cards is delivered within this church to every household, so that every household has one, OK? Now, this is about re‑distributing justice. This is about re-balancing the scales of trade. This is about the 'Make Poverty History' campaign, and I make no apology for coming back to it again.

The thing about bananas is very very serious, on the grounds that if we buy our bananas from the Windward Islands that will save their economy, it’s as simple as that. If we fail to buy our bananas from the Windward Islands the economy of those islands will be decimated, because of the Trade Rules that are going to come in, the Trade Rules that are going to support the multi-nationals, the multi-national companies that have got banana plantations right across the Americas, and it’s going to sweep away that industry in the Windward Islands. If you buy Fairly Traded bananas then that will be a good start. But it is particularly the Windward Islands, their economy relies totally on their banana crops, and because of the new Trade Rules that are being negotiated at the moment the money they will be able to get for their bananas will decrease dramatically. Their bananas will have to be sold on the open market with no help within the Trade Rules, and they will just get washed away.

'The field of the poor may yield much food but it is swept away through injustice'

Enjoy your Quavers.
 

For more information about Bananas, go to www.supportcaribbeanbananas.org.uk