For the month of April we are considering the theme of Responsible Living at our Sunday night gatherings. After beginning by discussing what it means to be Rich in comparison with the rest of the world last week, we considered what it means for us to be global citizens this past Sunday night. I used Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat to introduce the interconnectness of the world today. Friedman’s conclusion that to engage these situation required both motivation and imagination was challenging and encouraging to many. Sean noted how the field of international health is no being called Global health so as to better describe how health issues transcend and transgress the political boundaries of nation-states. We pondered how an understanding of all human beings being created in the image of God and biblical understandings of how to treat a stranger and hospitality should affect how we live our everyday lives. The conversation also touched on consumerism, giving away something every time you buy something else, and trade policy.

Together we are going to pursue the experiment of using non-American news sources this week. Some ideas shared by the group were:
http://allafrica.com/
http://english.aljazeera.net/English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok
http://www.iht.com/ — The International Herald Tribune

This background of a greater understanding of the global situation should form a fascinating starting point for this Sunday’s conversation on the Earth and environment with our guest from the Sierra Club.