I’m personally giving up chocolate.
Apart from it being too fattening,
I think the money raised will be quite phenomenal!
—Susan Boyle
It’s great to see Susan Boyle doing well and doing something good with her fame. I still go back every now and then to see Susan’s try-out almost two years ago on Britain’s Got Talent when she took the entire audience including Simon Cowell by surprise with her amazing voice singing “I Dreamed a Dream.” She had some ups and downs with the sudden fame the show brought her, but she seems to be doing well now. It’s great to see here doing something like promoting a good charity like SCiAF and personally participating in the fundraising by giving up chocolate for Lent. Hopefully the money raised will be quite phenomenal!
I too have given up chocolate for Lent. I do so because it’s been nearly a year now since I discovered the bitter truth about chocolate and children. Côte d'Ivoire is the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans, supplying over 40% of the world’s chocolate. You can be sure the next time you eat a Kit Kat, Hershey’s Almond or Mars bar that some of that chocolatey taste is coming from Côte d'Ivoire. 200,000 children work in Côte d'Ivoire’s production of cocoa, and 12,000 of those children are victims of human trafficking and slavery (“Children in cocoa production”). And the problem of child labour is by no means limited to just one producing country. I want to think about this reality, research it some more, discuss it on this blog, pray about and try to discern what our Christian response should be to such a horrible victimization of children. Lent is a season for getting serious about our discipleship. I want to see if we as Christians have a responsibility to change how the world produces chocolate.
Giving up chocolate for Lent, maybe for life
by Ken Symes
“It’s not exactly uncommon for Christians to give up chocolate for Lent. One friend told me the benefit was how awesome the chocolate tasted on Easter Sunday after the 40-day ‘fast.’ Christians give up chocolate (TV or Facebook) in order to create a space for spiritual growth. So I guess if you gave up Twitter for Lent, instead of tweeting your friends, you would “tweet” God and grow through the discipline of prayer. So why give up chocolate for Lent?”
God chose what is regarded as nothing by Ken Symes
“How quick we are to judge other people! First impressions are made sometimes with lightning fast precision. That's what the audience and judges of Britain's Got Talent did to this middle-aged Scottish woman whose appearance was, well, a bit off. Were they ever surprised! You will be too!”
I am glad for Susan giving up chocolate if that's what she wants to do. Now I only wish she would give up singing that song "I Dreamed a Dream" and move on, maybe as a maid at Howard's Johnson's.
ReplyDelete