Live 8 2005 St Mary's Cathedral

This is one of the occasions when I know it is right to say that you are incredibly welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral. This is a momentous weekend. To be honest, it is very simple. Eight men have the power to make a huge difference to the lives of 100s of thousands of our brothers and sisters in Africa – and in other parts of the world. We are here to add our prayers and voices in song, drama and silence. We are in solidarity with millions of others throughout the world. Our sashes will be a visible sign of our commitment to change. There is no doubt that there has to be a major statement from the leaders of the European Community about our concern and commitment to our sisters and brothers in Africa.

I suspect that a good number of our congregation tonight have visited Africa. I have very clear memories of living with nomadic people in Kenya and Ethiopia, very poor people in Tanzania and more recently with people living with HIV and AIDS in Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is a scandal that we in the rich part of the world don’t use our gifts, talents, imagination and wealth to serve our kith and kin in Africa and other parts of the world. Thank you for being here this evening. Your presence is important. Thank you for your witness and support, there is no doubt, it will make a difference.

HOMILY

About 20 metres behind me there is a magnificent statue of Cardinal Basil Hume, unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen a couple of years ago. Only once in my life have I had to prepare a speech for a Cardinal, and it was Basil Hume. The text he wanted to use was the Gospel we have just heard, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. One of the phrases he wanted to use was: ‘The Rich man wasn’t bad, he just didn’t notice, he just didn’t notice’. The Cardinal had a picture in his mind’s eye of the Rich man leaving his castle every morning, and simply stepping over the poor man at the gate. The poor man was simply not part of the ‘rich man’s world’, as someone once sang.

The brilliant thing about you being here tonight is that you do notice, you are not oblivious to the needs of the poor man, or rather the 800 million of our sisters and brothers who live on less than $1 a day. It is thanks to the huge MakePovertyHistory Coalition that far more people throughout the world now at least notice the plight of the poorest. It is thanks to Live8, to Bono, to Bob Geldorf, CAFOD, Christian Aid, The Evangelical Alliance, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela Pope John Paul 11, and so many others, that more of us do notice what is happening. It is thanks to the media who give us the pictures and the words.

More and more people now believe that it is indeed a scandal that 30,000 people will die in poverty today, one every 2.8 seconds. This week we remember the devastation resulting from the Tsunami in South East Asia on 26 January. It is estimate that around 250,000 people died as a result of the destructive power of the wind and the water. That is the same number of people who die each week in poverty throughout the world.

But it is not enough to notice. Here we are in prayer and solidarity with millions of people throughout the world, folk who were at Penshaw Monument at midday today, people at lunchtime ecumenical services and frugal lunches, people riding bikes and rickshaws to Edinburgh. But even that is not enough. It does take a united decision made by 8 men in a room to make the difference, and we must hold them to account.

Politicians have to compromise – that is how it works, it is better to compromise than to go to war. However, we don’t have to compromise. We can go on demanding the eradication of poverty. We can rail against the fact that the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in poverty has already slipped from 2015 AD to 2147 AD – a mere 132 years. The goal to achieve universal primary education has slipped to 2129, 114 years late. The goal to reduce infant mortality by two thirds is now estimated to be achieved in 2165, 150 years late, and so on. We do not need to compromise, we must not compromise, we do need to go on saying it as it is.

The Rich man in the Gospel was not a bad man – he simply didn’t notice. But not noticing got him into bother. He ended up in ‘a place of torment’. The poor man found himself with Abraham, and ‘at rest’. The poor man’s wounds had been licked by dogs, the Rich man is now in agony. There has been a great reversal, the ignored is now in peace. The ignorer is suffering. The Rich man offered no hospitality to Lazarus (whose name means ‘God is my help’) and now Lazarus is incapable of offering hospitality to the Rich man. Remember when we used to think that ‘Dives’ was the Rich man’s first name, it simply means ‘rich man’. The story is about those for whom ‘God is their help’ – and it is clearly not the ignoring rich. The fundamental tragedy is that the rich man ignored his covenant relationship with Lazarus. He knew he was there, he even knew his name, he used it when talking to Abraham, but he ignored him.

The fundamental tragedy today lies in our refusal to do what we can. There were 137 warships from 36 countries in the Solent on Tuesday, celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. At least they were all on the same side, they weren’t firing at each other. How long will it take before such a united effort will be made to address the 23 of the poorest 25 countries of the world in Africa?

It is almost 10 years ago since Pope John Paul 11 said: The eradication of poverty will only be achieved when the poor themselves can take their fate into their own hands, when they become part of the conceiving and putting into practice programs which directly concern them’[1]

Lazarus was never invited to participate in exploring his future, he wasn’t offered aid, he was simply ignored.

We can learn from the actions and attitude of the Rich man. It is about metanoia, a change of heart, a ‘u-turn’ if you like. Some u-turns are for making.

So tonight, as the people begin to gather in Edinburgh and other places, we lift up our hearts in prayer and in song, we lift up bands and sashes and pray that the rich and powerful in the world will come together to give a lift up to the poorest of our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

St Mary’s Cathedral Live8

[1] John Paul 11 to Cor Unum 25 October 1995 in the Vatican.

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