Video – Pray, Fast, Give. It’s About Justice There are three central traditions that we undertake during Lent. Fasting from little things is the one that gets the focus, but all three work together and it may come as a surprise, but their focal points are justice (making things right) and restoration. They are:

Using the statement “I want one” during Lent probably seems a bit off… but a man has to be honest. Allow me to be blunt, I am sick and tired of petrol and everything about it. I am sick and tired of the fact that I am reliant on it. It stinks and I want another option. I don’t want to have to visit petrol stations and I don’t want to keep analysing the price [...]

If you would like to receive an email each day that outlines the latest posts from this site, click here and fill in the form. While in prison for smuggling Jews out of Germany and later, executed for being involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler just before World War II ended, Deitrich Bonhoeffer penned this poem: Christen Un Heiden – Christians and Unbelievers Men go to God when they are sore and suffering, Pray to him [...]

Recently our advocates team who were on an Insight Tour in the Philippines got back. This was written by Jane Laurie (TEAR Fund Regional Co-Ordinator). Dear Friends The TEAR Fund Advocate Team returned to NZ on Sunday. All of us, through the haze of being jet lagged, are still processing what we have seen and experienced. You have read in previous blogs of our time in Manila. Fom Manila we travelled to Cabanatuan City for 4 [...]

Check this video promo for TEAR Fund’s upcoming events in 2009! Check out the events & tours section on the TEAR Fund website for more details and more events.

In Catholic and some Anglican churches the little flax crosses, given out on Palm Sunday, are recollected and burned. The ash is combined with oil and used to mark crosses on the foreheads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday.

The following was written by Kristin Jack, team leader for Servants Cambodia and an eyewitness to the violent eviction of slum residents and the demolition of their homes that took place on Saturday January 24th. The history of Cambodia is littered with tragedies brought about by the oppression of the weak by the powerful. Power, and it’s abuse, seem to be a constant theme that spreads its destructive influences through all levels of society here. On [...]

Ash Wednesday – today – is the first day of Lent, the day we remember our mortality. The church tradition on Ash Wednesday was to mark the foreheads of the faithful with a cross made with a mixture of ash and oil. As the priest imposed this cross he would intone “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) This ceremony began the Lenten journey of repentance and self [...]

New Zealand audiences will be the first outside of Africa to experience the joyful and rhythmic sounds of the talented East African gospel group; The Sowers. The Sowers will play three free concerts highlighting child poverty on behalf of aid agency TEAR Fund. The opening concert will be in Auckland on March 5, followed by concerts in Tauranga and Hamilton on March 6 and 7. Having fled the Congo and Rwanda, the band members have [...]

The following was written by a humanitarian organisation in Cambodia. It outlines the eviction of families from a slum (Dey Krahorm) in late January and the ongoing abuse of their rights. I am looking into it further and examining our options to lobby for the rights of these people. Expect to hear more. In the early hours of Saturday, 24 January 2009- assisted by a large contingent of armed police and military police- hundreds of [...]