FLOW: For Love Of Water

Flow: For Love Of Water is a 2008 documentary about the privatization of water. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I will explain. Water privatization is basically when a major corporation goes into an area, most commonly a third-world area, and basically takes ownership of all the water. More specifically: the clean water. this might not sound too bad, but once you hear the details you might change your mind. I learned a lot in watching this documentary, it was slow at times and even a little too political for me but overall, I found it good and informative.

There are many corporations in the world. Most of which are corrupt and take advantage of the poor. In watching this video I saw that it goes beyond simple sweat shops. In many third-world countries it is hard to find clean drinking water, most of which is because of pollution. These corporations install faucets, (that look a lot like the one your hose is connected to in the backyard) filter the water and then charge for it. The corporations say that they are helping the people, or at least they think they are, but the fact is they are charging more than what people can afford. Water is a necessity, like air, you should not have to pay to have drinkable water.

You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
-Amos 5:11-12

Another thing I found very interesting was a part about bottled water. Most everyone knows who Penn and Teller are. Well in Flow they showed a segment from their show.

There have been several tests done on the bottled water that we drink every day. They have found that about a third of the bottled water out there is no better than tap water. We spend about 100 billion dollars on bottled water a year. Now what struck me was that The UN said it would only cost about 30 billion dollars a year to provide safe drinking water to the entire world and we spend three times that much a year to buy tap water in a bottle.

There was a ton more information in this video but I’m not going to summarize it all for you. The fact is that God has called us to take care of the earth but most importantly to take care of the people (especially the poor) on the earth. I’m sure you may have already known that we aren’t doing the greatest job of either of these. But also know that there are people out there actually doing the opposite, they are making life even harder for the poor than it is already.

34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
-Matthew 25:34-40

7 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8 Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
-Deuteronomy 15:7-8

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
-Isaiah 58:6-7

- Danielle M.

The Five :: August 9th Video

Update, Winding down, speeding up

Hey everyone, summer is winding down and we are already working hard so that we can head into the fall at full speed. I am very excited to announce that we will have a bunch of new (as many as 10 total) small groups/bible studies in operation this fall/spring.

The latest additions are Men’s Fraternity, Mondays at 6:00am (yes, not a typo, see you there) beginning September 7th, Young Ladies Bible Study Mondays at 8:00pm, and College Group Thursdays at 7:00pm. We are also hoping to begin a campus Bible study at Willow International this semester to complement the Way Community at Fresno State.

Last week at the FIVE was incredible! If you missed it, I am working on getting the video uploaded to Vimeo for the worship but it’s taking longer than usual because the file is so large (48 minutes of worship), Rick Easton’s talk is already up at the main site www.northparkchurch.org and it was very powerful as he shared about reaching out to the handicapped.

Hope to see you soon at one of our services…

Bonus: check out Tyler’s project Atelier

The Latest/The FIVE/The Love

Hey everyone.

Summer is winding down and we are gearing up for fall 2009. We are going to have more small group/connection opportunities than ever before. We are going to continue to push forward with innovation and change in The Five. And we are going to be meeting on the Fresno State campus as The Way once again.

Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of meeting places, leaders and times. Also this week at the FIVE we will be debuting a new way to communicate with us from your cell phone in real time. So don’t forget it at home but also remember to put it on silent.

Huron Outreach Video 2009

The Five July 26th

People

Huron Here We Come

Hey everyone, it is not too late to sign up for the Huron Outreach. There is a mandatory meeting this Sunday at 11:30 am in the youth room. Message me if you need more info.

Also, we are still collecting clothes for men to take to the Rescue Mission. Drop those off at the church office or bring them to a Young Adults related function.

If you aren’t aware of it, we have a podcast on iTunes, you can subscribe by going to itunes and searching for Northpark Community Church, I think we are the first search result. Somebody write some reviews though…we are considering adding some music and other elements to the stream as well. See you this weekend at one of our gatherings!

Ryan

Help The Poverello House

We recently have been told that the Poverello House has seen a dramatic decrease in donations of men’s clothing.  We have decided to try and do our part in helping them out. We are asking everyone to take a look in their closets to try and find any men’s clothing that they will be able to donate.  If you are not able to take the clothes yourself to the Poverello house, then you can drop them off at the Young Adults Room (202/206) at Northpark and we will take the clothes over for you. Let;s try and do our part to help the Poverello House in their time of need.

 

-Raul

The Five July 12th