Empty jars

Yesterday, Sandie Morgan [of the Global Center for Women and Justice @ Vanguard] began a two-week class on Human Trafficking at our church.


She used 2 Kings chapter 4 [the story of Elisha and the widow with olive oil] as her text from which to bring out some principles on a biblical way to respond to and prevent slavery:


*Elisha first asked the widow questions rather than responding immediately with the answers to her problem


*Among his questions to her were: How can I help you? and What do you have at home?


*The community got involved by responding to the widow's request for empty jars


*The woman was then empowered to become a "businesswoman" in that she could now sell olive oil to pay her debts


*The same community members who gave the empty jars then became the buyers/recipients of the olive oil that miraculously appeared


This picture of a holistic approach to helping a woman who, due to large debts, was about to give her sons as slaves for the payment of said debt, shows how the community involvement in empowering the woman in finding her own livelihood can actually be sustainable. The story ended with the woman becoming a contributing part of society and being able to keep her sons from slavery.


I'm struck by the concepts of *what's in your house?* and *collect empty jars*. There are undoubtedly things in my "house" (resources, skills, time, etc.) to be offered in the fight against injustice (specifically to the anti-trafficking cause) and who doesn't have some "empty" jars lying around that seem useless because they are depleted of the resource they once held. Maybe it's not my responsibility in every case to provide a "full" jar to God in my quest to promote a more just world.


Walking away from this class, I was struck by dialogue on how my purchasing is intertwined with justice across the globe. Conscientious buying (of my groceries, my clothes, etc.) is deeply tied to the ethical treatment of laborers, which is inextricably embedded in the problem of human trafficking. Knowing that debt is the primary reason people end up in slavery (whether that results in sex trafficking or trafficking involving labor), I am compelled to start being more informed in my buying.


Thus, I offer an empty jar of my own: a journey of researching products that I use in order to find out which companies are committed to the fair treatment of and wages for their workers. It is a spiritual practice I am engaging in, with the goal of searching out one product a week in order to find an ethical company from which to buy from.


This week's product: chocolate chips. :) 
Research results: in the works (but coming by the end of the week!).


What empty jars might you have in your house?