2014 and disciplined thought

Again in 2014, I'll attempt to post something sensible on an almost daily basis. 

Confession:  I do this mainly for my own benefit.

I try to read as widely as I have the time on a daily basis.  Admittedly, much of what I read connects to my work and concerns related to poverty, economics, neighborhood revitalization and life in hard, inner city neighborhoods and communities here in Dallas and across the nation. 

There is something about the plan, the need, the compulsion to write daily that keeps me focused and as "on track" as I can remain.  I find that when I fail to write, I feel scattered, dislocated and without clarity or discipline. 

So, I write to work and to stay at thoughts having to do with life and poverty and faith and labor and children and homeless friends and family. 

Those who stop here often know a good deal about my grandchildren.  They are pure treasure to me--each in his or her own way.  Getting to watch these four amazing people is the most satisfying, thrilling experience.  Again and again, I'm made to stop and laugh, wonder, cry, rejoice and celebrate their lives.  Somehow, Gracie, Wyatt, Owen and Henry point me clearly toward my purpose.  Somehow, they provide balance, strength and courage for my life.  So, expect to learn more about them in 2014!

Now, enough of the personal stuff.

Bring on 2014!  And, agree or disagree, please know that your comments make this page much more helpful than it could ever be without them.

I'll look for you here.
___________________

R.I.P. and Happy Birthday, Mom.  You'll never be forgotten.

Sunday assignment

Step one:  read Revelation 18

Step two:  ponder each word and phrase, underlining the most interesting words and phrases

Step three:  summarize the chapter in one sentence

Questions:

1)  What dominates the reason for the great agony and mourning in these words?

2)  What is the place/position of great wealth in this part of the story?

3)  Is economic power a problem here?

4)  In what way do various actors "commit fornication" in the story line?

5)  Is the focus of this chapter sex or economics?

6)  What role does wealth and economic power play in this story of failure and defeat?

7)  What does the chapter seem to reveal about God's attitude toward wealth and its power?

8)  Where are "the poor" in this vision of the community in question?

Finally:  what is the "takeaway" for you?

Responding to the needs of Jesus

"For I was hungry, while you had all you needed.

"I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water.

"I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported.

"I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes.

"I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness.

"I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I served."

Matthew 25:31ff

--Richard E. Stearns Version

from The Hole in Our Gospel

page 59

Back to the 60s

Last week the following grim report put the spotlight on what we've known for a decade here at CitySquare.  Namely, poverty has been on a steady rise since the early 2000s.  The numbers explain our dramatic increase in persons seeking us out for assistance.  We can do better than this, can't we?

 

US poverty on track to rise to highest since 1960s

HOPE YEN | Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.

The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.

Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor. More discouraged workers are giving up on the job market, leaving them vulnerable as unemployment aid begins to run out. Suburbs are seeing increases in poverty, including in such political battlegrounds as Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where voters are coping with a new norm of living hand to mouth.

"I grew up going to Hawaii every summer. Now I'm here, applying for assistance because it's hard to make ends meet. It's very hard to adjust," said Laura Fritz, 27, of Wheat Ridge, Colo., describing her slide from rich to poor as she filled out aid forms at a county center. Since 2000, large swaths of Jefferson County just outside Denver have seen poverty nearly double.

Fritz says she grew up wealthy in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, but fortunes turned after her parents lost a significant amount of money in the housing bust. Stuck in a half-million dollar house, her parents began living off food stamps and Fritz's college money evaporated. She tried joining the Army but was injured during basic training.

Now she's living on disability, with an infant daughter and a boyfriend, Garrett Goudeseune, 25, who can't find work as a landscaper. They are struggling to pay their $650 rent on his unemployment checks and don't know how they would get by without the extra help as they hope for the job market to improve.

In an election year dominated by discussion of the middle class, Fritz's case highlights a dim reality for the growing group in poverty. Millions could fall through the cracks as government aid from unemployment insurance, Medicaid, welfare and food stamps diminishes.

"The issues aren't just with public benefits. We have some deep problems in the economy," said Peter Edelman, director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy.

He pointed to the recent recession but also longer-term changes in the economy such as globalization, automation, outsourcing, immigration, and less unionization that have pushed median household income lower. Even after strong economic growth in the 1990s, poverty never fell below a 1973 low of 11.1 percent. That low point came after President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, launched in 1964, that created Medicaid, Medicare and other social welfare programs.

"I'm reluctant to say that we've gone back to where we were in the 1960s. The programs we enacted make a big difference. The problem is that the tidal wave of low-wage jobs is dragging us down and the wage problem is not going to go away anytime soon," Edelman said.

Stacey Mazer of the National Association of State Budget Officers said states will be watching for poverty increases when figures are released in September as they make decisions about the Medicaid expansion. Most states generally assume poverty levels will hold mostly steady and they will hesitate if the findings show otherwise. "It's a constant tension in the budget," she said.

The predictions for 2011 are based on separate AP interviews, supplemented with research on suburban poverty from Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution and an analysis of federal spending by the Congressional Research Service and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute.

The analysts' estimates suggest that some 47 million people in the U.S., or 1 in 6, were poor last year. An increase of one-tenth of a percentage point to 15.2 percent would tie the 1983 rate, the highest since 1965. The highest level on record was 22.4 percent in 1959, when the government began calculating poverty figures.

Poverty is closely tied to joblessness. While the unemployment rate improved from 9.6 percent in 2010 to 8.9 percent in 2011, the employment-population ratio remained largely unchanged, meaning many discouraged workers simply stopped looking for work. Food stamp rolls, another indicator of poverty, also grew.

Demographers also say:

—Poverty will remain above the pre-recession level of 12.5 percent for many more years. Several predicted that peak poverty levels — 15 percent to 16 percent — will last at least until 2014, due to expiring unemployment benefits, a jobless rate persistently above 6 percent and weak wage growth.

—Suburban poverty, already at a record level of 11.8 percent, will increase again in 2011.
—Part-time or underemployed workers, who saw a record 15 percent poverty in 2010, will rise to a new high.
—Poverty among people 65 and older will remain at historically low levels, buoyed by Social Security cash payments.
—Child poverty will increase from its 22 percent level in 2010.

Analysts also believe that the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the poverty level, will remain near its peak level of 6.7 percent.

"I've always been the guy who could find a job. Now I'm not," said Dale Szymanski, 56, a Teamsters Union forklift operator and convention hand who lives outside Las Vegas in Clark County. In a state where unemployment ranks highest in the nation, the Las Vegas suburbs have seen a particularly rapid increase in poverty from 9.7 percent in 2007 to 14.7 percent.

Szymanski, who moved from Wisconsin in 2000, said he used to make a decent living of more than $40,000 a year but now doesn't work enough hours to qualify for union health care. He changed apartments several months ago and sold his aging 2001 Chrysler Sebring in April to pay expenses.
"You keep thinking it's going to turn around. But I'm stuck," he said.

The 2010 poverty level was $22,314 for a family of four, and $11,139 for an individual, based on an official government calculation that includes only cash income, before tax deductions. It excludes capital gains or accumulated wealth, such as home ownership, as well as noncash aid such as food stamps and tax credits, which were expanded substantially under President Barack Obama's stimulus package.

An additional 9 million people in 2010 would have been counted above the poverty line if food stamps and tax credits were taken into account.

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, believes the social safety net has worked and it is now time to cut back. He worries that advocates may use a rising poverty rate to justify additional spending on the poor, when in fact, he says, many live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

A new census measure accounts for noncash aid, but that supplemental poverty figure isn't expected to be released until after the November election. Since that measure is relatively new, the official rate remains the best gauge of year-to-year changes in poverty dating back to 1959.

Few people advocate cuts in anti-poverty programs. Roughly 79 percent of Americans think the gap between rich and poor has grown in the past two decades, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/RNS Religion News survey from November 2011. The same poll found that about 67 percent oppose "cutting federal funding for social programs that help the poor" to help reduce the budget deficit.

Outside of Medicaid, federal spending on major low-income assistance programs such as food stamps, disability aid and tax credits have been mostly flat at roughly 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product from 1975 to the 1990s. Spending spiked higher to 2.3 percent of GDP after Obama's stimulus program in 2009 temporarily expanded unemployment insurance and tax credits for the poor.

The U.S. safety net may soon offer little comfort to people such as Jose Gorrin, 52, who lives in the western Miami suburb of Hialeah Gardens. Arriving from Cuba in 1980, he was able to earn a decent living as a plumber for years, providing for his children and ex-wife. But things turned sour in 2007 and in the past two years he has barely worked, surviving on the occasional odd job.

His unemployment aid has run out, and he's too young to draw Social Security.

Holding a paper bag of still-warm bread he'd just bought for lunch, Gorrin said he hasn't decided whom he'll vote for in November, expressing little confidence the presidential candidates can solve the nation's economic problems. "They all promise to help when they're candidates," Gorrin said, adding, "I hope things turn around. I already left Cuba. I don't know where else I can go."
___
Associated Press writers Kristen Wyatt in Lakewood, Colo., Ken Ritter and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami and AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

Little girl's truth

Just tonight I watched her walk, hand-in-hand with her mother up the crowded downtown city street.  Traffic rushed past without notice.  Her spindly legs seemed barely able to support her small frame.  So fragile, I waited for the wind to whisk her away.  She must have been all of 6-years-old ... faded cotton dress ... ragged little tennis shoes ... a pair of much too large glasses.  A huge Barbie Doll backpack with the look of having arrived from some "in-touch" charity drive was draped across her small shoulders and somehow did not fall to the ground.  Her mother appeared homeless or at least lost on the streets.  Maybe they were headed to the bus station or possibly to one of the family shelters. 

I couldn't tell. 

But I saw her.

I really saw her. 

She begins her life far behind the curve set by kids like my grandchildren. 

This little girl has little chance in this country of ever "making it." 

Will she finish high school?  What are her chances for college? 

When will she become a mother herself? 

I wondered about her current health and her health care options. 

Where would she sleep tonight? 

Would she ever be truly safe? 

Where were the boundaries of her world when it comes to love, affection, opportunity? 

Did she know her daddy?  Did he know her?  I didn't like the obvious answers that came to me instinctively.

For some reason as I watched this unremarkable pair walk the street, I thought of the church and its members and its leaders--me.  I thought of a thousand books I'd read dealing with some grand thought or seemingly priceless theological or psychological nuance that was meant to "help me" do better, feel better, get on better.  I thought of all the Sunday School classes and all the sermons and all the seminars and all the praise and worship times and sessions and trainings.  I remembered countless learning opportunities. 

I considered all of my "advantage".  And I realized in that one defining moment on that downtown block as I drove home after a day in my pampered world that all of it was rubbish, worthless, foolish, a horrible waste--an illusion and worse, a delusion.  For all the claims, most of the essential, highly regarded stuff of my world is simply not true.

That one little first grade girl and her life and her mom--that is true and more, the life I caught a glimpse of today is the only truth that really matters.

The game is far, far from fair and just and livable.  And, of course, I know it is much, much worse elsewhere even in my city, not to mention the vast, teeming Third World.

This fact causes me problems with "business as usual" faith, serious problems. 

One thing I do know:  all my advantage with its vast world of words and ideas has done nothing to prepare me for handling the ultimate, undeniable truth delivered to my heart this evening by one tiny little creature stumbling along down a very busy, unknowing city street.

[I wrote this reflection several years ago.]

Offended?

Interesting reading for this Sunday:
Jesus and John the Baptist

John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”


When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

Luke 7:18-23

New International Version (NIV)

"Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me"--that statement has always been intriguing to me. 

Why would anyone "stumble" or take offense (meaning of the phrase) at someone taking care of the physical needs of people as a front-and-center, core proposition of one's faith vision? 

I mean really, now. 

Jesus' "action list" presents quite a resume of relief, doesn't it? 

Blind people regaining sight.

People who can't walk now able to walk on their own.

Those with no hearing now able to receive and process sounds.

The dreaded lepers now cleansed of their physical and social maladies.

Even those who've passed on and over brought back to life.

And, get this, good news is being proclaimed to the poor.

The list ascends to the most surprising outcome of all that Jesus did:  he included the poor at the center of his mission and his kingdom. 

Hmmm.

Maybe now I'm understanding this idea of "taking offense" or stumbling over the acts, agenda and engagement of Jesus. 

You can still see the "offense," the "stumbling" today, can't you?  Much of the time the most deeply offended claim to be followers of the person who creates the surprising offense.

For some it is downright offensive to make or to regard "the poor" as a priority.  It's too social, too worldly, too "liberationist" to understand that the heart of God's program contains a radical commitment to those who are poor and, as a result, left out, marginalized, kicked aside and easily forgotten.  Forgotten, and not just by secular forces, but also by people who
claim to follow Jesus, the great offender. 

Surely, this is not what Jesus made central to his life, work and teaching?  So it seems, and just there we face up with the offense!

So, today around the world, preachers will call out his name, the name of Jesus. 

I wonder, will anyone be offended?  Will anyone stumble over the real nature of his life and work?  I hope the spokespersons today will be clear enough to create some much-needed tension in the heart of the church.

Sunday reading: Apostolic "footnote"

Struggles with internal politics and leadership decisions relative to legitimacy and clearly respected lines of authority dominated at least a part of the ministry of the Apostle Paul. 

Paul reports some of the background of the early church's process for working out these issues in Galatians 2:1-14. 

What causes me pause whenever I read of these internal wranglings over order, authority and power is this one sentence that describes a fundamental, inviolate truth that all leaders were required to follow in those early days:

"They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do" (Gal.2:10).

CitySquare "University"

"CitySquare University" serves us as an internal, professional and personal development resource for all of our employees or team members.  The offering of courses span a wide range of subjects that are important to our work.  We value every person who works here.  Everyone works very hard.  Each member of our team deserves the very best in opportunity and skill enhancement. 

One of the courses that I teach is entitled The "Theology" of CitySquare. The two-part course surveys the Hebrew Bible and the scriptures of Christians with an eye to discovering the principles of compassion, justice and community found in these rich texts of faith. 

This morning I'll be in class again discussing how our faith impacts and shapes our work on a daily basis.  In small groups my students will unpack and digest these passages, among others:

Luke 3:7-14 7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. 11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” 13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

Luke 6:20-26 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Luke 7:20-23 20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” 21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

Luke 9:12-17 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” 13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Luke 14:12-14 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 10:25-37 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 12:12-34 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 19:1-10 1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a ycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 16:1-15 1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

Luke 16:19-31 19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 18:18-30 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

CitySquare operates as a faith-based organization deeply rooted in the truths of our spirituality.  Try reading these texts.  I believe they can't be read without change occurring at the heart level. 

God's home

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them." 

~Bono

It costs to be poor!

Via: Online Sociology Degree

Hunger fast

Jim Wallis, leader of Sojourners, recently announced a hunger fast to bring attention to the "moral choices" being made today in Washington, DC as Congress works on the national budget.  Wallis has long maintained that all budgets are moral documents forcing a national or personal discussion.  To learn more about the fast and how to join it click here.

Here's part of a report that Jim shared on Thursday with his online community.  He asks provocative questions.  For those of us who live and work among the urban poor, the questions are more than understandable. 

What do you think?

The message of the fast gets clearer each day — fasting tends to focus you, and the message is that a budget is about the choices we make. This fast is not just about cutting spending, but about the values that will determine our priorities and decisions. Should we cut $8.5 billion for low-income housing, or $8.5 billion in mortgage tax deductions for second vacation homes? Should we cut $11.2 billion in early childhood programs for poor kids, or $11.5 billion in tax cuts for millionaires’ estates? Should we cut $2.5 billion in home heating assistance in winter months, or $2.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies and off-shore drilling? This debate isn’t about scarcity as much as it is about choices.

Jim Wallis

Sojourners

Friends, really friends

I attended a rather disturbing public meeting here in Dallas a few nights ago.  I say "disturbing" because that's the only word that comes close to doing the proceedings justice. 

Contrary to how the meeting's advance billing, there was no real attempt to gain new understanding.  The majority voice in the crowd was rude, offensive, angry and aggressively opposed to gaining any new information.  The target of their anger was a new plan to house the chronically homeless in a part of a neighborhood near their homes and businesses. 

People had come to rail against a plan to elevate and assist the poorest citizens who try to live among us with virtually no resources. 

To be clear and fair, the meeting was not a new experience for me.  I've been to meetings like  this one before where the tenor and tone of the agenda and the happenings felt much the same.  I suppose it was the size of the crowd and the attitude of those who interrupted the public leaders who attempted to bring reason and understanding to the event, mostly to no avail whatsoever that really surprised me. 

As I left the very discouraging event, I noted a gleeful delight in the eyes of those who ruled the volume of the evening. 

One aspect of the evening proved most instructive for me. 

Greeters for the meeting had been selected from among the homeless, the people who would benefit from the housing plan that was to come under extremely harsh criticism.  These brave people sat at the registration table, welcomed folks as they arrived and even attempted to testify  before the angry crowd. 

At one point, one of the public leaders made reference to the presence of the people who would benefit from the proposed housing plan. 

An angry voice responded immediately, "Don't you do that to us! Don't parade these people before us to make us feel guilty!" the woman shouted at the top of her lungs. 

I've replayed that moment over and over again in my mind. 

I think it contains a truth that should be analyzed and considered carefully. 

What sounded like a shout of protest may have been an appeal for protection.  It was as if the woman knew that if she got to see and to know the people, the individuals in question, she would have to look at the entire matter differently.  She might even be tempted to place her fear aside and get to know the people in such dire need. 

It's true.

As long as the extremely poor can be categorized, stereotyped, objectified and kept at an impersonal, safe distance, the debate can rage on and on.

But as soon as the homeless poor gain an identity, become personal to us, as in friends with names and life stories and tears and fears, well, then we must regard them as they are:  humans.  Once you know some one's name, well, "game over."  Recognition of identity shifts course to the point that community development becomes possible.

Don't bring them into our meetings.  They might show us what we don't want to see--that they are just like us, but without all of benefits of adequate material resources to make life work.

I say the secret for moving through the current dilemma relative to our city's effective response to chronic, hardcore homelessness is round after round of face-to-face discussion with the homeless poor. 

In fact, new rule:  no more meetings about "the poor" without their presence in equal numbers for every discussion, and this includes our weekly City Council meetings. 

What do you think?

No poor

The sacred writings of Judaism point toward a society devoid of poverty.

Consider this short meditation from Deuteronomy 15:4-5:

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.

Ever hear this in church?

Religion and Poverty: God and the Poor, By Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches

For the 45 million persons who attend congregations related to member communions of the National Council of Churches, poverty ministries are not a sideline. They are at the very heart of our faith.

Even a casual reader of the bible, including those familiar with the Psalms and Proverbs, is immediately struck by the sheer volume of references to God’s concern for the poor. The theme is repeated relentlessly in all holy writ, including the Torah, the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, the words of the Buddha, and in millions of lines of religious verse.

The message is clear: God has an unabashed focus on persons living in poverty.

For Christians, the message is unmistakable, and Jesus makes the point with varying degrees of subtlety. In Luke 4, he asserts that God has anointed him “to bring good news to the poor,” which is nice, but in Matthew 19, he is unnervingly direct. When a rich young man asks him how to get to heaven, Jesus tells him to obey God’s commandments and “sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor.” For two millennia, we have blanched at this radical suggestion and convinced ourselves Jesus is being hyperbolic. But I doubt it. I think he’s making it unmistakably clear how much God loves the poor.

Given all this evidence, it boggles the mind to consider how little attention we have paid to poverty. The one bright spot in our long history is the emphasis churches placed on giving alms to the poor, but principalities felt no such largesse. Less than a century ago in our own country, few politicians felt government had any obligations to help the poor, and people without means were left to fend for themselves. As the industrialization of the world intensified, the rich got richer at the expense of the poor. At the turn of the 20th century, workers – including their young children – were forced to labor in unbelievably degrading conditions while their employers luxuriated in extravagant homes.

Conditions were, to state the obvious, sinful. It was amid the squalor of early 20th century America that churches and persons of faith came together to right these terrible wrongs. In December 1908, at the founding of the Federal Council of Churches, Methodist cleric Frank Mason North delivered a report on poverty in America that evolved into the Social Creed of the Churches. The Creed called for safe working conditions, the abolition of child labor, a living wage for all workers, at least one day off per week, and for “the abatement of poverty.”

Considering the ample evidence of God’s prejudice for the poor, it’s hard to believe that the Social Creed was regarded as a radical document, but labor conditions in the U.S. began to improve.

A century later, in 2008, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service unveiled an updated document called “A Social Creed for the Twenty-first Century.” Among other things, the new creed calls for:

· Abatement of hunger and poverty, and enactment of policies benefiting the most vulnerable.

· High-quality public education for all and universal, affordable, and accessible healthcare.

· An effective program of social security during sickness, disability, and old age.

· Tax and budget policies that reduce disparities between rich and poor, strengthen democracy, and provide greater opportunity for everyone within the common good.

· Just immigration policies that protect family unity, safeguard workers’ rights, require employer accountability, and foster international cooperation.

· Sustainable communities marked by affordable housing, access to good jobs, and public safety.

· Public service as a high vocation, with real limits on the power of private interests in politics.

Amid the strains of the current economic downturn, many of the proposals have become political hot potatoes as politicians in both parties fret that they will beget programs that the nation cannot afford or that will benefit persons who do not deserve them.

The fact that the abatement of hunger and poverty or the provision of universal healthcare or the assurance of just immigration policies are subject to political debate is, to put it mildly, sinful. And God has gone out of God’s way to make that clear to us.

A decade ago, the United Nations proposed Millennium Development Goals that call on the nations of the world to pool their resources to accomplish many of the objectives cited in the Social Creed for the 21st century, including the elimination of the level of poverty and hunger that kills millions of people around the world.

Many social scientists, most notably Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, believe we have the means of doing just that.

Of course, there are many critics who believe the elimination of killing poverty will never happen, and some of them suggest with dark Malthusian tones that it would not be worth the effort.

That’s the kind of reasoning that breaks God’s heart. God has been trying to get our attention since the dawn of creation, and in written scripture for millennia:

“Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth,” the Lord said, “I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” (Deut. 15:11, NRSV).

Working together, we can accomplish the abatement of poverty worldwide.

But even if we fail, it is clear God is commanding us to make the effort.

God is not on the side of social scientists, politicians, or cynics.

God is on the side of the poor.

[The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon is General Secretary of the National Council of Churches.]

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