What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have the works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead.
James 2:14-17 (NRSV)

"I invite each congregation, campus ministry and individual Episcopalian to help accomplish the goals of the MDGs. ...Never underestimate the power of a witness. Jesus said to his first disciples, ‘You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"
(The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, Bishop of NC, in his address to Diocesan Convention, January 2007)

The Episcopal Church, in mobilizing to meet the Millennium Development Goals to end extreme poverty on this planet, is resourcing a grassroots movement of spiritual transformation. It is a movement and work rooted in the touchstones of our faith -- scripture, tradition and reason. Beginning with scripture, we are called to be His hands and feet in the world.

On Sunday, February 11, 2007, the Rev. Mike Kinman, Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, preached at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. Here's some of what he had to say:

"And Luke's Gospel tells us that a huge throng followed him and crowded around him, drawn by his power. And he lifted up his eyes and said:

Where is God's favor? With the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the outcast. Jesus was not going to mount an army and defeat the Romans, but no matter -- the war was already won. For the Romans' strength was not a sign of divine favor, but the Jews' poverty.

My friends, this passage is not about us.

Yes, there are times when we relative to others we think we are poor, times we feel hungry, times when we are deeply grieved and times when we endure the hatred of others... but not like this. This passage is not to be read in the context of our lives but in the context of life on this planet. Jesus' words play out in places like Iraq, like Darfur... and on the cold streets of our own city every night.

The word 'bless' literally means 'to speak well of.' Whom does God side with? Whom does God speak up for and speak well of. It is those. It is Mohammed and his family. It is not us.

But if we are not the blessed, then there is but one question for us to ask:

How can we be part of the blessing?"

Seven months earlier, while at the Church's General Convention in Columbus, Ohio and preaching at the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation "U2charist", Bishop Michael Curry had anticipated just that question. He answered by encouraging everyone present to make a witness to the world by working on behalf of the Millennium Development Goals and following the example laid out in scripture.

"I believe in evangelism, because I believe we've got some good news to share. It's a bad news world, and we've got some good news in this bad news world!

I'm talking about a different kind of witness. I don't have any expectation that we're going to get Episcopalians going out on Saturday morning, two by two--giving out Episcopal Life. I'm talking about a witness that is born of our discipleship. I'm talking about a witness that is born of our timid sometimes, halting sometimes, but our willingess to follow Jesus of Nazareth. To follow in the way of his teaching, to live in the way of his Spirit, to dare to emulate his light, until his light becomes our light, and the world begins to see his light through our lives.

... I am convinced that we are Nicodemus. And we have come by night to Jesus. To Christ. To the Christ in those who have not. The Christ in those who struggle, for a crust of bread. The Christ in children, hungry and bereft. The Christ in a creation crying out to be cared for. The Christ in women seeking human equality and dignity. The Christ in children who must never again go to bed hungry. I daresay we have come to the Christ that these Millennium Development Goals represent a moment and a possibility of transfiguring discipleship, in which we can make a witness in this world."