William Wilberforce is remembered in the Anglican calendar on July 30 – just a few days ago. Wilberforce is remembered for his leadership of the political movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and eradicate slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His life beautifully illustrates the timeless wisdom in a couple of the set Bible readings Like Jacob, Wilberforce fought through the night of repeated political defeat, against legal, economic, and even biblical arguments in favour of slavery. He persevered through death threats from slave traders and refused to give up until the blessing had been given. Like Jacob, Wilberforce sustained wounds in the fight. In his case, it was bouts of deep depression and an extremely painful illness for which he was prescribed laudanum (a polite name for opium), which gave him hallucinations and a medically prescribed addiction. Like Jacob becoming Israel, Wilberforce gained a new name through this conflict. In his youth he was known as a charming, lazy, entitled rich kid. A lad. A nepo baby. After his night of struggle, he came to be called a statesman-saint and a humanitarian reformer. And like Israel, Wilberforce’s daybreak came, and with it a blessing for the whole world. In the Gospel reading we see Jesus facing scarcity (just a few loaves and fish) with gratitude and blessing and finding it enough for more than 5,000 people. Wilberforce also battled against the scarcity mindset that justified slavery. His opponents saw human labour as a scarce resource to be grasped and exploited. Wilberforce, as a follower of Jesus, saw labourers as human beings to be honoured and respected. Hands that grasp what we have in fear of scarcity will inevitably become fists that brutalise others. Hands that are open can receive whatever good comes to us, give thanks to God for it, bless it, and share it with others. As so this week may your limited resources, in your compassionate hands and with God’s blessing, be enough for you and for those who need them even more than you do.

It may seem as though it is something new for some of us, but our readings this morning show us that being in tune with our natural environment has been…

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends twelve disciples out on a mission to do what he has been doing - to heal the sick, cast out demons and preach the kingdom of Heaven. This little band of disciples, inadequate as they were, are sent to shepherd the shepherdless sheep of God and bring in the overdue harvest of God. And after them the church, inadequate as we are, is called to do the same. We won’t do it perfectly, but we will follow the model Jesus sets out for us in Matthew: • We will look at the (seemingly unruly) people around us with eyes of Compassion, not judgment, knowing that sometimes we also need to offer compassion to ourselves • We will Pray, believing that God is the great shepherd who cares more about the people around us than we do. • We will make ourselves available to be part of God’s answer to those prayers.