麻豆约拍

A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a tutor at South Wales Baptist College.

Good morning on this United Nations International Widows Day. For over a decade, this day has raised awareness of grieving women around the world, especially the violations of human rights they often suffer following the death of their spouses.

In many countries, women can be plunged into poverty when their husband dies. Often, they are denied an inheritance, evicted from their property, left ostracized and abused. Their children can be equally affected. And things have only got worse since the Covid Pandemic.

Gender justice, especially for widows is at the heart of the UN鈥檚 Millennium goals, just as it was to the mission of Jesus. But sometimes we need more than seeking justice for widows, it鈥檚 important to work with them, releasing their potential to transform their world. The prophet Elijah was struggling during a time of great drought, when God sent him to a widow at Zarephath. When he finds her, she and her son are cooking the last of their food, a final meal before they die. But Elijah tells her that, if she shares this last meal with him, God will not allow her food to be used up.

And that is what happens. She, a widow in her weakness, is not only given food, but gives what she has in aid of the prophet. She, like others on the edges of our world, are not simply objects for our charity, or even a case for justice, they are their own dynamic agents of change, transforming the lives of others around them, inviting us to join them in their heavenly revolution.

God of the poor,
the weak and the oppressed
strengthen the lives of widows today
grant them justice
and challenge us all by their example
Until it is done for all upon the earth
As it is already done in heaven
Amen