Exam season is over and we’ve reached the end of another year of University life! Some of us are returning home to spend time with families, others are exploring new places around the world with friends and family, some will be learning about and exploring potential future careers through internships and work experience and others still will be volunteering in all kinds of areas seeking change in an area of the world they are passionate about having an impact on. Whatever you are doing this Summer, it might seem like the sudden change in the culture we’re surrounded by from the Oxford student bubble to whatever environment we’re in over the next few weeks can lead us to feel like we’re living two completely different lives – a ‘University life’, and a ‘Summer life’.
How do we continue seeking Justice as we return home over Summer, when communities of other students with the same goal such as Just Love aren’t as accessible? What does ethical living look like when we’re no longer living independently and making less of our own consumer choices? And how can we continue to invest in the Just Love community and continue to encourage one another while we aren’t in Oxford? To aid the Just Love community in their pursuit of justice this summer, Just Love Oxford members are going to be writing a Summer blog! Each blog post will be looking at an issue such as poverty, the environment, human trafficking and homelessness, and will give practical ways we can fight these issues within the context of being at home; here are just a few examples of ideas you could be thinking about to begin with:
- Look at the products you’re buying and think about where they might have come from – look out for the Fairtrade label on foods, and try avoiding plastic packaging where you can!
- Look at what coffee shops you meet family and friends in, and try inviting them to a more ethical one – this could be a great witness to them to get talking to them about ethical issues!
- Look for volunteering groups in your area who work with the homeless and other vulnerable groups and see how you can get involved.
- Visit sites such as opendoorsuk.org to learn more about the terrible persecution of Christians going on today. They have a great prayer diary with daily prayer topics – why not use it in your daily prayer?
- Talk to the leadership of your Church to find out what they already do in terms of ethical issues, such as whether they use Fairtrade tea or coffee, and encourage them in what they are doing already, and look with them at what more they could do!
- Read books such as ‘Generous Justice’ to learn more of God’s heart for justice and how the Bible can encourage us to seek it.
We also want to be encouraging the Just Love Community with verses to be reading and reflecting on, and with prayer points to be praying through each week as a community.
This week’s prayer points:
- Pray over your own Summer break and for guidance on how God can use you in it to serve him best.
- Pray for Just Love as a community, that we can continue to support each other over Summer and continue to seek justice.
Just Love is defined by its members and its community, so we would love everyone and anyone who has ideas of topics for this blog to get involved in writing one of our blog posts! If you are interested get in contact with us at justloveoxford@gmail.com or let us know via Facebook!