Speak the Truth Boldly was the sermon title at Ainsworth United Church of Christ’s Jubilee Sunday service on
February 18, 2007!
We held our service a month after the actual Jubilee Sunday in order to lift up the Africa experiences of two Jubilee Oregon members, Rev. Lynne Smouse Lopez and Dr.
Patricia Rumer who traveled to
Kenya and
Zambia in January.
Pat and Lynne shared how the Jubilee movemen
t, South and North, is speaking truth boldly in demanding total debt cancellation to the United States government and in former “debtor” nations such as Zambia. Wangari Mathaai, Nobel peace prize recipient from Kenya, denounced the actions of the World Bank and IMF in a fiery speech at an Illegitimate Debt forum in Nairobi. She asked “how could the most powerful bank loan money to governments that could not pay without sacrificing the lives of people? We cannot tolerate these debts because they are literally killing our people.”
She and other speakers urged the churches to use their moral authority – “we have the numbers and the voices, but we don’t raise that voice! We cannot be silent while people suffer – we are the agents of the Lord!”
Lynne spoke of how debt cancellation is inextricably linked to trade justice. Although much of Zambia’s debt has been cancelled, the same harmful IMF economic conditions continue. The IMF is urging the Zambian government to impose a 17.5% value-added tax (VAT) on food, drugs and mosquito nets in a country that is malaria-ridden! She asked the congregation – how would we react in Oregon if the government imposed such a tax? Or if China, to whom the USA is in debt, suddenly imposed conditions that compromised our sovereignty by changing the Constitution or Congressional laws? How would we feel?
The service included a Scripture reading in Swahili by Geoffrey Bunyoli, Kenyan
member of the congregation; a children’s sharing with Rev. Cecil Prescod in which the children were given basic school supplies and health aids and then, because of IMF conditions, all these supplies were taken back. The choir 
sang two special Jubilee hymns.
Living out our call to Jubilee! The service concluded with an altar call where congregation members pledged their involvement in local Jubilee Oregon activities – ranging from visits to Congressional representatives around debt cancellation legislation to participation in book discussion groups on global economic justice.
Ainsworth UCC has been a Jubilee congregation since 2001. Four AUCC members traveled to Africa in January – in addition to Pat and Lynne, Dustin and Cara Pattison also participated.
Pat Rumer
February 20, 2007
t, South and North, is speaking truth boldly in demanding total debt cancellation to the United States government and in former “debtor” nations such as Zambia. Wangari Mathaai, Nobel peace prize recipient from 
member of the congregation; a children’s sharing with Rev. Cecil Prescod in which the children were given basic school supplies and health aids and then, because of IMF conditions, all these supplies were taken back. The choir 
sang two special Jubilee hymns.
