Over the last several weeks' Pastor Ed has been opening Ephesians 6 with us. In this text, Paul urges believers to put on the whole armour of God, including the breastplate of righteousness. The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosune, the character or quality of being just. Originally in older English, righteousness meant rightwiseness. Paul is saying that we, like Christ, must live lives of justice or righteousness, pursuing it wherever and whenever we can.
This month we are joining hands with World Renew to alleviate world hunger. We also work with World Renew to sponsor refugees to Canada. Many in our congregation have been doing that work faithfully for many years and continue to do so. We experience daily the blessings of that work in our relationships with many newcomers. However, we need to stay aware of the underlying roots of the global hunger/refugee crisis.
One group that experiences religious persecution are the Rohingya of Myanmar. You are invited to read this World Renew article about the Refugee Camp Conditions. In addition, this AlJazeera Report from October that gives some helpful in-depth reporting about this continuing crisis.
The armour of God in this case might mean writing to your local MP or Foreign Affairs Minister - Honourable François-Philippe Champagne to ask what the Canadian Government is doing to put pressure on the Myanmar government to see that justice is done for this people group who have suffered terribly.
Image Credit: A man covers himself with a plastic sheet and walks in the rain ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, May 20, 2020. (AP Photo) Retrieved from: World Renew.