This week's news 

It is rarely hard to find stories in any week’s news that are related to wealth and its accumulation. This week is no exception.

The Archbishop of Canterbury went to war against Wonga, the payday loans company. 

The plan, which has been supported  by the Government’s Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is that the Church of England will invest in credit unions, supporting an alternative to payday loans companies. Unfortunately, the Archbishop’s attack led to an investigation into the Church of England’s own investments, a small proportion of which are in – guess which finance company? – yes, that’s right, Wonga! While this embarrassed the Archbishop,  it did not deflect him from his campaign to encourage more sustainable finances among low-income families.

Payday loans companies offering immediate finance at high interest rates flourish during times of recession. Weekly payments stores, gold-buying firms and pawnbrokers are also doing well. Coronation Street has been running a storyline  recently in which two characters, Rob and Tracy, are planning to open up a shop buying and selling goods from people who need cash quickly. They have come in for criticism from their families for preying on the vulnerable, having taken over the premises of a previous long-running business … a betting shop.

Back to Wonga. The company is sponsoring the shirts of Newcastle United, although not without opposition from some fans and the local community, which has the highest personal insolvency rate in the UK. It has also caused a crisis of conscience for Papiss Cissé,  one of the increasing number of Muslim footballers in the Premier League. 

This week, the problem of Cissé’s refusal to wear the sponsor’s name on his chest was resolved.  Although the path to this solution has not been revealed, it has been suggested   that, having been seen leaving a casino and not raising objections to Virgin Money as the previous shirt sponsors, Cissé didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. The Wonga/Newcastle/Cissé tussle has produced some witty terrace humour such as, ‘Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has told his players to forget all about the club's new sponsorship deal. He's told them to just get on the pitch and give it 5,853% (Wonga’s alleged annual interest rate).’ Not everyone could see the funny side and Chi Onwurah, Newcastle United’s local MP, was quoted  as saying, ‘Some of the richest young men in Newcastle are wearing shirts calling on the poorest to go to a legal loan shark.’ 

Reflection

The news stories about the Archbishop of Canterbury and Papiss Cissé that are connected by Wonga raise issues about financial institutions taking advantage of the poor, but they also ask questions of those who make the accusations. The footballer appears to have been accused of the same sin as the Archbishop’s Church – hypocrisy. While our reading does not focus on this fault, elsewhere in the gospel stories we read Jesus’ warning against highlighting the speck of dust in another’s eye when there is a log in our own. It would be unfair to criticise the Archbishop of Canterbury’s role in this. It is not as if he was personally a shareholder in Wonga. But it illustrates the point that Christians lay themselves open to judgement when they judge others.

A similar accusation of double-standards could be levelled at the fictional characters in Coronation Street who have accused Rob and Tracy of preying on the poor and vulnerable in contrast to the betting shop, whose premises they have taken over. Is running a betting shop any more laudable than enabling people to liquidate their assets? 

Footballers are easy targets: young men earning more money in a week than most of their peers would see in a year. Self-awareness is not a common trait, as demonstrated by Ashley Cole, who wrote in his autobiography  that he nearly crashed his car when his agent told him that Arsenal  were offering him a new contract worth ‘only’ £55,000 per week. It is hard for a successful and therefore wealthy footballer to enter the kingdom of heaven. Should that not therefore make us quicker to pray for them? Are not the stars God’s handiwork too?

Prayer

Our God, 

we pray for people who resort to desperate measures to make ends meet. 

We pray for people who struggle to feed themselves and their children; 

for those whose homes have been repossessed.

We pray for the credit unions that help people manage their finances 

and for the food banks that feed families 

who would otherwise go hungry.

We pray for those who run pawnshops and loan companies. 

May they be fair and compassionate in their work.

We pray for the very wealthiest people in our country. 

May they not grasp their fortunes to themselves, 

but use what they have for the benefit of others.

We pray for Score  – sharing the Gospel with sportsmen and women 

– and for the witness of Christian athletes amongst their teammates.

We pray for ourselves, 

that we will be slow to judge others 

and generous in our forgiveness. 

Amen.

Questions

• Are pawnbrokers and ‘legal loan sharks’ the tax collectors of our age?
• Is it possible for a Christian to be involved in these professions?
• Are there any careers that are inappropriate for Christian people?
• The National Lottery has been called ‘a tax on the poor’. However you or your church tradition views gambling, is it right for a church to apply for Lottery funding?

Action

The Church of England found a small percentage of its investments were in Wonga. Try to find where your church or denomination has invested its ‘treasure’. Is it stored up on earth or in heaven?

Young People

Young people could interview some of the adults in the church about the way in which they have balanced the demands of their careers with their call to follow Jesus. Have they experienced the tension of following two masters?

Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film.

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