RESOLUTION: LET THE JUBILEE YEAR BEGIN

WHEREAS, The Law of Moses calls for Jubilee Year when slaves are released, land returned, and debts forgiven (NRSV Lev. 25); and

WHEREAS, Jesus announced he had come to proclaim the Year of the Lordıs Favor (NRSV Like 4:18-19); and

WHEREAS, The Assembly of the World Church Council of Churches meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe in December 1999 voted unanimously to ³Let the Trumpet Sound a Jubilee Call to End the Stranglehold of Debt on Impoverished Peoples²; and

WHEREAS, The twenty-second General Synod of the United Church of Christ, which met in Providence, Rhode Island in June 1999, adopted a call for a time of Jubilee based upon the Biblical mandate of Leviticus 25; and

WHEREAS, The Forty-one impoverished nations, so defined by the World Bank, are servicing their $220 billion debt diverting limited resources from meeting the basic needs of their people; and

WHEREAS, The Jubilee Year calls for a new way of thinking about our being in relationship to the land, to neighboring countries, to impoverished nations oppressed by the burden of debt.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we the delegates to the 133rd Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ call upon all local churches to work for the eradication of chains of debt encircling impoverished nations, enabling their economies to experience new life; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in the year 2001, the regional Justice and Witness Ministry Teams and the Justice and Peace Network of the Connecticut Conference provide resources for the local churches to study the Biblical, theological and social-economic aspects of this situation; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that these concerns about poverty and riches today be communicated by local churches and by Conference staff to our national and state legislators and to our public policy advocates.