Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 (Andre Pekovich)

Andre spoke about how we could change the world into a more peaceful place. The challenging passages of the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus’ instructions not to worry about food or clothing as well as the work of Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen bank - provided the basis for his comments. The capitalist system does not work for all, especially the poor. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. Yunus started a co-op type bank to help poor villagers who are the bank’s shareholders; the concept flourished. Borrowers with no collateral must have a circle of five friends who support and are accountable to each other. The empowering part of this model was that the poor were able to earn respect along with the financial power, and thus felt able to participate in society, rather than being excluded. Andre noted that societies that exclude young men from earning a living breed resentment among them, which easily turns to violence. Andre wondered whether this system in Bangladesh puts their people closer to the ideals of Matthew 6 – seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. (HN; ed-AP) Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, Oct. 25th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.