For or Against: Slavery and Salvation
Much of our world operates around the challenge to be ‘for’ or ‘against’. And generally, it is easier to be against things than for them! Look at the tendencies of the media, politics and religious disputes.
On October 18, Anti-Slavery Day, people across the UK will recommit themselves to the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking, one of the great evils of our time. Like William Wilberforce and what we now call historic slavery, we need to fight against the oppression and exploitation of our sisters and brothers today. Abolition is the proper aim of being anti or against.
And the challenge is growing with:
- More vulnerable people susceptible to false promises
- Increasingly flexible working arrangements which gives space for criminal agencies to provide goods and services based on exploitation and slave labour
- Police and prevention resources being ever overstretched
- And our own insatiable appetite for cheap products
There is much we need to learn to oppose and abolish.
But, in facing these almost overwhelming challenges we must not neglect what is primary for our Christian witness, the call to notice, reach out, rescue and restore. The call to love, to be for those who are hidden, neglected, hurting and ignored.
In Anti-Slavery Week, give time to thinking how you or your church or home group could better learn how to contribute to the fight against modern slavery. The Clewer Initiative has some amazing resources to help us open our eyes and assist the authorities and reach out towards victims.
But, alongside these prayers and practices, consider how you could go the extra mile in the way of the Good Samaritan. Going beyond the indifference of the priest and the Levite, too busy to stop, notice, reach out, rescue; rather how can we better contribute to establishing systems like the partnership between the Good Samaritan and the innkeeper– systems to provide care and the basis of restoring proper health and opportunities to those whose cries represent the voice of Jesus for those willing to listen.
Be against modern slavery this October, but more, be for those who need our friendship and our partnership.
Bishop Alastair Redfern
Honorary Assistant Bishop