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Posts Tagged ‘poverty’

A Single Command

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Photo by Vincent Rodriguez

Despite the simplicity of the command, there is still quibbling: Who is my neighbor? What is love? What if I don’t love myself? Who am I? What is my purpose? And the next thing we know, the focus is back on me and not about my neighbor at all.

Galatians 5:14
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18].

Some people have found some peace and revelation by asking the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” By asking this to themselves, they are able to adjust their responses, their behaviors, and so forth. Personally, I don’t really know what Jesus would do, I mean, not really. But I do know, without a doubt, whether or I not I want someone to say or behave toward me as I have done to them.

Here’s what I do for myself out of self-care. I keep myself clean, fed, clothed, and sheltered. I work to earn enough money to provide for my needs as well as several non-essential desires. I choose how to use my time. I entertain myself with people, books, technology, music, daydreams, and outings. On good days, I take care of my body through exercise. I sleep to ensure I am rested. I spend time with my young adult children, relatives, and friends, but pretty much on my terms and time table. These are the outward benefits.

Internally, I am usually kind to myself, I give myself encouragement and pep talks, I pray for my circumstances, friends, and family, I soothe myself, and I forgive myself (although I’m not very good at it).

Nonetheless, is there any reason to withhold any of these things from others? Where is the stumbling block? I think it goes back to judging. I look at others and instead of seeing the “sacred,” I see differences that separate us. I imagine that the same things that comfort me may not comfort them. Or, there’s another voice that complains about their abuse of whatever I might give: money spent on something frivolous, junk food instead of “nutritious” food, alcohol instead of milk, and so forth. I judge before the gift is out of my hands.

Forgive me for putting a silo around myself.

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Remember the Poor

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , on September 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

What does it mean to remember? Isn’t it more than just, “oh yeah, that one exists.” To remember means genuinely holding that person in the mind and then the heart. The dictionary says it takes an effort of memory. And then?


Galatians 2:10
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

I feel convicted whenever I think of the “poor” in that general sense. The should word comes up in big bold letters across my mind screen: YOU SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING.

I think it’s time to stop running away from this particular “should.” It’s time to confess that I don’t do what I can. I don’t want to. Remembering the poor is messy and consuming. It’s impossible to out-give the needs of the poor. All these things are true, but I am withholding more than money. I am withholding myself.

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Circle of Generosity

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 18, 2010| 3 Comments »

Generosity is an expression of thanks to God. When I give to someone in need, that act of giving, in itself, is thanking God — for my having enough to give. And if this is true, what I am I saying when I don’t give?

II Corinthians 9:12
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

I have put too much focus on the traditional acts of thanksgiving: saying prayers at meals, lifting my hands in church, saying the Lord’s prayer each day, giving thanks when I have a close call in a car. But I haven’t considered my actions as a form of thanks. I haven’t thought of loving others as a form of thanks.

There is a description of our relationships being like a cross, the vertical is our relationship with God and the horizontal is our relationship with others. And although I have seen and know that my vertical relationship with God enhances my ability to love others. But I had never considered the opposite. My outpouring of self into others touches God by confirming my trust and faith in His ability to keep me full.

That’s the idea of it anyway.

Instead, I see my fears block my giving. I’m not just talking about money either. Of course, this is included. And I do fear the loss of security that money provides. But I am placing my hope for security in the wrong place. It’s a habit from my own poverty growing up in the inner city.

I am grateful for my comforts. I do thank God verbally each day for the abundance in which we live. And yet, today, I am confronted with a greater truth: give thanks by letting go. Build faith. Build trust. Give out of the abundance.

And, in the circle of generosity, it all comes back again.

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When is the end?

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When is the end? I always wonder if I’ll know the end. I mean, maybe the end has already come and I’m just treading water. Has “death” been destroyed by the Christ? I mean, He got to pop back up from the tomb, but what about the rest of us?

I Corinthians 15:24-26
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

I have pretty much assumed that “believers” die, resurrect immediately after death, get to be with Jesus in heaven, and have a big meet-up with our family members who took an early exit. But, reading this portion of Corinthians, I’m having to rethink these assumptions.

Of course, I’m not speaking of any academic evaluation of this verse or comparing it with others in the Bible. I’m not an eschatologist. I’m just thinking about the words and looking for an application for me today.

I do believe Christ has full control over the kingdom (in the whenever). And this kingdom exists now but is not “handed over” until the sifting has been completed: the destruction of the other powers/enemies. Death is the final enemy.

So, is death destroyed now? Are people who are dead, not dead? But if not dead, then are they only in heaven not dead? Jesus made a re-appearance in our 3-D world. What about the rest of them… or us?

I still don’t think I get it. The deal with humans and death and Christ, that is. Jesus promises that we “can” be like him [Romans 8:29] and manifest even more works/miracles than He did [John 14:12]. So, what’s up with that?

I’m guessing we’re still in Seth Godin’s “Dip”. People are having trouble “sticking” with it. We have grown discouraged like the servants who were told to take care of the vineyard while the master was away [Luke 20:9-20]. We don’t really believe that death can be conquered in our “time.” We don’t really believe we, humans, can do those miracles. For those who get excited about this possibility and start seeking out that capability, they may begin to look like charlatans and snake-handlers. If people look for the miracle working power without the foundational stuff in place, it gets distorted. Pure and simple.

What’s foundational? The Sermon on the Mount stuff: all the PARADOX stuff like humility, mercy, cheek-turning, selflessness, poverty, purity, peacemaking, and gentleness.

OK, it’s not the end because God is giving us a chance to work this out. To practice a little more. I know I need practice.

This is when I wish I had those “matrix” eyes so I could see what is really “real.” That’s where the kingdom is – it’s here around me. I just can’t see it because I am blinded by my attachment to life as I have known it, not life as the Christ wants me to live it.

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What’s wrong with this picture?

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2010| 1 Comment »

Paul is a little testy with the Corinthians in Chapter 4. He compares his lifestyle with theirs. It would be like comparing Mother Teresa’s lifestyle with mine. Indeed, what is wrong with this picture?

I Corinthians 4:8a, 9a
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! . . . For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.

I was uncomfortable reading Paul today. After all, he’s writing to me just as much as he’s writing to the Corinthians. Compared to the poor of the world, I am living a king’s life. Compared to the relative wealth in any third world country, I am still living like royalty. In Africa, the villager measures wealth by land and cattle and food to eat. In America, we measure wealth by extraneous “toys” like electronics, paper money, investments, cars, and multiple bathrooms in a house.

This is still my stumbling block. It always has been and until my life changes, it will continue to be a plank in my eye [Luke 6:42].

I am afraid to be poor again.

How many times have a I sat in a Bible study or small group and talked about our wealth? We nod our heads and agree it’s problematic, but then we all return to our three and four bedroom houses with two and a half baths and two cars sitting in the driveway. Minimum.

Or, to make ourselves feel better, we drag out the Biblical examples of the wealthy who were close to Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea (who gave up his tomb for Jesus) or Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who climbed a tree to see Jesus and entertained him that night (oh, wait, he gave a way huge portions of his accumulated wealth that day).

Honestly, there’s no getting around it. Our wealth is a type of sin. We can tithe 10%, 15%, or even 20% and still we are carefully holding and caring and multiplying the remainder.

Oh, we say it’s only the “love of money” that is sin [I Timothy 6:10]. So, I don’t “love” money? I just love what money can buy. I love it’s power so much I spend more than I earn and put myself in debt.

Paul says to imitate him. I can’t do it. There’s a reality check. No. I have to find my own balance between culture, commitment, and Christ. This is not the first century.

I have no real solution. But I do know that it’s here where the voice of God must enter my soul and bring revelation. It is here where grace must make her appearance. It is here where mercy must do battle with condemnation. It is here where potential change must be embraced within the loving arms of a Redeemer.

Just as Jesus accepted the prostitutes and beggars, he accepts me. And just as he transformed them, he can transform me. I don’t know what that will look like. I cannot know the true outcome of this picture. I can only trust the Artist.

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A Jailer’s Compassion

Posted in Random Thoughts, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 16:33
At that hour of the night the jailer took them [Paul and Silas] and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.

When the jailer accepted the word of God that Paul and Silas shared with him, his eyes were opened and with those open eyes came compassion. Paul and Silas were no longer just prisoners but injured men who needed attending. Before that, the jailer had been complacent.

I wonder how often I have missed human need and suffering because of a callous heart. I drive the same streets every day. I walk the neighborhoods. I go to the same grocery store and eat at the same restaurants. Am I looking and not seeing?

Martin Buber spoke eloquently of man’s ability to look at “the other” without seeing in his book, I and Thou. Am I looking at other as “object” … as an “it,” or as a person … a true “thou.”

William Shakespeare captured this idea slightly differently (but effectively) in the Merchant of Venice through one of the speeches of Shylock: “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?” [Act III, sc 1] Replace the word Jew with “the poor” and you get the idea.

The jailer could not do much. He couldn’t free Paul and Silas, he couldn’t change their circumstances, but he could give a small comfort: he could wash their wounds.

When I see poor and wretched souls, I become numb with the enormity of their deprivation. What can I possibly do? Perhaps it’s only the small act that needs doing in the moment…. washing wounds by listening, touching, asking, engaging, feeding, sharing. Perhaps I should stop worrying about what I cannot do and simply do what I can do.

I have heard it said that we can never “out give” the poor. Their need will always be greater that our ability to meet it. This sentiment reverberates in Jesus’s own words: “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want…” [Mark 14:7a]

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Eye of the Needle

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on June 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 19:24
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

That’s us, the rich man. I don’t think we want to hear that, but it’s true. I’m reading Rob Bell’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians,” and found a list of disturbing facts. Here are just a few:

  • The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. (Next in line is China, 5.6 million barrels a day.)
  • America controls 20% of the world’s wealth with only about 5% of the world’s population.
  • Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age 5 dies of hunger while Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase.
  • Nearly 1 billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.
  • More than half of the world lives on less than $2 a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
  • 40% of people in the world lack basic sanitation while 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.
  • 1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity.
  • Most people in the world do not own a car; one-third of American families own 3 cars.
  • One in seven children worldwide has to go to work every day just to survive.
  • Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods

I’m only saying: we’re the rich man. All of us. So, how will you get through the eye of the needle to enter the Kingdom of God?

I am counting on the mercy and grace of Christ. That’s it. There is no other way.

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