the politics the poor

It seems that Quincy Center no longer has an appetite for me and my friends. For
quite some time now, business owners and politicians have made it clear that the meal
program at the Church of the Presidents is not a welcome guest. No more clear than this
recent article in the Patriot Ledger in which Mayor Koch said, “he hopes to eliminate the
free lunch program at the First Parish Church”, since “it is seen as a barrier to creating a
tourist-friendly atmosphere around the tombs of John and John Quincy Adams in the
church’s basement and the new $22 million city-built park that will surround the church."

An attitude like the one expressed by Mayor Koch and the business owners in
Quincy Center perpetuates a sort of social Darwinism that further props up the beautiful
and successful in society while pushing the outcasts further and further away from our
sight. When our cities hope to be more beautiful, I can admit that it seems logical to
many that we should push all that which we perceive to be ugly into someone else’s
line of sight. However, that which is logical, at least in this instance, is not that which is
compassionate.

When some of my friends from the meal heard about this sentiment, many were
rightfully hurt and angry. They stated that they felt as though the city would like to herd
them off as if they were a bunch of unruly animals. As you can imagine, this is not a
pleasant feeling. Many of the people who come to the meal program are there because
they are having a hard time getting back on their feet. Many are lovely people who feel
joy and pain more deeply than most people I have met. And many have become some of
the greatest friends I have ever had.

This is not a collection of people who are looking to make the rest of Quincy
scared to walk around. Most of them are hurting. Simply pushing them into someone
else’s neighborhood not only neglects their social and economic problems, it doesn’t
solve the perceived crime problem in Quincy Center.

It is our fear of the unknown that keeps us from seeing God’s image firmly resting
on each and every one of them. It is our fear that allows us to stereotype the people
who need our judgment far less than they need our compassion. Our fears cannot be the
driving force behind a lack of human decency. We must be concerned with maintaining
what dignity folks who are homeless or near homelessness have left.

May our compassion and pursuit of true justice be stronger than our snap
judgments. As John Adams, the man buried not 100 feet from where we eat each day,
once said, “The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more
anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly [with
your God]. This is enough.”

-dave-

what if

what if faith was simple and pure?
what if hope was was never lost?
what if love could be embedded within the horror of a cross?

what if God made the universe, that stars and all the planets?
What if God is right here among our songs, our liturgies and praise...our fights, our tears and all our hate?
what if our religion and the church of our invention are tools we use to please ourselves, to praise the things we crave?

what if the way is truly narrow and the few that find it don't look like me?
what if the ones who "know" the truth are the furthest ones from finding it?
what if knowledge superseded faith and made our Lord into systematic theology?

what if we drank the cup that we've been given?
what if death was not determined but the chosen route to resurrection?

love the sinner, hate the sin

this dualism that we have established between ourselves and our actions is a falsehood that we must begin to extinguish from our thinking. is it not our actions that define us, not simply our beliefs? therefore, i believe it his high time we stopped working within this framework of love for sinner, but hatred for their sin.

the two are one and the same.

how does this inform the way we view God's great love for creation by becoming one of the created order? what it says to me is that there is a full embrace that blows the doors off any religious system or thought that has ever existed.

God, in Christ, dies for the sake of a fallen order. not despite it, but for it. the crazy thing is that God desires for us to do the very same thing.

that is unfathomable! isn't it? can God really expect us to love sex offenders, murderers, rapists, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, soccer coaches and angry boston drivers as they are, not as we wish them to be?

-dave-

the poor, the broken and the needy: a little rant

am i the only one that is growing more and more uncomfortable with calling people who don't have a lot of money, possessions or means "the poor" "the needy" or "the broken"? i have begun to develop a strong distaste for terms that neatly place a group people into categories that are pretty demeaning if you think about them.

what i have found to be true is that whenever we feel as though we have arrived at a place where we can segment and label the people we “serve” we have just then lost our ability to serve with integrity and faithfulness.

the more we are able to objectify a person or people, the more likely it is that we, in some sense, believe ourselves to be above them. even in our well-intentioned efforts to serve others, we are often caught up in the labeling game. we say, “i serve the poor and needy” or “i care for unwed mothers” or “my church has a great ministry to the homeless.” but what we often forget is that it is not “we” who are the blessed, the heirs and the happy, "they" are.

the objectified and labeled are the ones who inherit the kingdom. we are their servants in the most humbling of senses.

so, do we love our neighbor, or do we place them in a category that will allow us some space to make ourselves superior to them?

in short, our service is rendered powerless, because we are far too powerful. to serve is to humble yourself, but it seems to me that we do a much better job of humbling those who have already been humbled by life than we do ourselves. in fact, we often praise ourselves for how much we have lowered ourselves! we give awards to humanitarians and social workers, because we have made ourselves the object of our service.

it's about you and it's about me. it's not REALLY about the people we "serve".

we (myself included) call these folks “the poor” “the hurting” “the broken” or “the needy.” but until we see them as princes and princesses in the kingdom of God, we will continue to fool ourselves into thinking that it is they who need us, when it may be more true that it is us who need “them.”

-dave-

power to stoop

why is it so difficult for a rich person to find their place in the kingdom of heaven?

what does it mean that the poor are not only blessed but possessors of the kingdom?

most of the people i know in church are wealthy. it seems jesus must have been wrong about that whole camel through the eye of a needle thing...

i've been around folks who are homeless, or close to being without a place to live for a few years now. i can tell you with absolute certainty that there is nothing blessed about being homeless or dirt poor. there is no inherent beauty or quality to living a life that is without basic necessities, most especially love.

so what are we supposed to think about these teachings/blessings? other than the religious/political implications of these statements by jesus, what can we learn from what he is teaching us about kingdom values?

i think one of the most intriguing things about jesus, and the prophet that prepared the way for him, is that they were both homeless. both possessed far more power and authority than anyone around, but both chose to live a life of simplicity and apparent weakness.

i think it's because both jesus and his cousin understood that wealth and power count for nothing unless they are used to stoop. jesus, who could have just as easily presented his vision for the kingdom from the emperor's seat in rome, chose to live as a rabbi from the streets. it seems to me that this is what jesus continually taught anyone that would listen, and finally put this stooping power on display when he washed his disciple's feet (including his betrayer) and submitted to a brutal and torturous death.

so why is it hard for a rich man/woman to find themselves enjoying the blessedness of the kingdom? i think it's because they don't understand that their value is first and foremost derived from WHO they are, not what they've got. we've got way too much to lose, and that is to our detriment.

it seems that the poor are blessed because they don't have to stoop. they are already humbled, already beaten down, addicted and abused. they understand power from side of the powerless, and it seems clear that God is on the side of those who are the victims of power.

jesus invites his followers to stoop with him, get to know the powerless and serve the ones who will never be able to repay you. after all, they are our superiors in the kingdom, not simply objects of our charity.

-dave-