Stretcher Bearers

The title of this blog post comes from a lecture Bryan and I heard in Geneva on March 12. The topic was on the role of church members during the current economic crisis. The speaker was James Featherby, a British lawyer whose law firm represents some of the major British banks that have imploded. His view is that society needs to return to values, preferably Christian values, as the criteria for success and discard the chasing after short term goals. Since this will be a long-term effort, he suggested that there is an analogy to activities on the battlefield of the 1st world war - stretcher bearers are needed to carry the wounded from the field. This is one role that church members can play.

In Jesus' telling the parable of the good Samaritan, he was telling us that our neighbor may be the person who has been injured by the current financial meltdown. We are "stretcher bearers" when we help them get back on their feet. And it could take significant time and effort but this is what we are called to do.