BBC Radio 4: Thought for the Day (That would have been) - 24 February 2022

I was due to present Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, but the historic occasion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine meant the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was asked to do it instead. Quite rightly. Here’s what I was due to say - perhaps there are some lessons for all of us in how we choose to live our lives in times like these:

Good morning,

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all things wrong with the world,” The words of Dr Paul Farmer, a global healthcare advocate, who died this week.

I’ve been struck by the multitude of tributes to both him and 31-year-old British entrepreneur and YouTube star Jamal Edwards, who died on Sunday. 

At first glance, these two men’s lives couldn’t have been farther apart – one raised the profile of the UK grime music scene by launching his online music platform SBTV at the age of 15, making room for voices of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. He was later awarded an MBE for his work in this area. The other – a world-renowned American academic who dedicated his life to providing medical treatment to those living in poverty. 

And yet both – like the prophets in the Bible - took action when dissatisfied with the status quo, working towards an alternative vision of how the world could be: a place where the voices of the poorest and most disadvantaged could be heard just as loudly as the richest. 

This idea is foundational to Catholic liberation theology. Though not without its detractors, its main tenets centre around the poorest as special recipients of God’s grace and how working against oppression is a central part of what it is to be a good Christian, and a good human. 

Recent years have made visible the invisible inequalities and oppression of people that can be so easy for many of us to ignore. The hoarding of Covid-19 vaccines by rich nations, while the poorest are left behind; the Black Lives Matter protests laying bare the racial injustice at every level of society; those living in poverty on the frontline of climate change. My understanding of the Christian faith is that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The poor. The marginalised. The oppressed. The unexpected. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel. The poor are blessed not because they possess an inherent piety; but, because as Italian cardinal and priest Raniero Cantalamessa writes, God values what they don’t have: they don’t have self-sufficiency… and they don’t have a presumption of being able to save themselves. 

The Christian faith emphasises both the internal condition of being poor in spirit and God’s dissatisfaction with the social condition of poverty and the inequality and injustice that lead to it. 

A question for us is what we do about it; whether our lives will be defined by an apathy to the status quo, or whether our legacies will demonstrate a commitment to being the change we want to see in the world – not turning a blind eye to our brothers and sisters living in poverty.  

Perhaps as Jamal Edwards’ mother Brenda sang in front of mourners at a vigil for him this week, this is the “greatest love of all”.