52 Sermon Illustrations on Poor

Small boy found frozen to death in Chester, Nebraska, on Christmas Eve 1985. No clue as to identity or cause of death. Face was torn, but turned out to be due to small animals. Town called him "Little Boy Blue," then "Matthew," which means "Gift of God." Town buried him when no leads turned up. Hundreds gave money, visit gravesite. Pastor said the way people treat the weak and powerless, like the little boy, is how they are treating Jesus.

Sermon on how Jesus directed his message to the poor, and not to the rich. Discusses biblical concept of being poor (OT: those who must depend on God for their every need).

Two ways of expressing gratitude to God:

Evelyn Bence was asked by a friend to come visit a shelter for homeless women. While Evelyn did the dishes, she thought what it would be like to sleep in a shelter with strangers. These slept there, but each morning they had to carry their meager possessions with them.

One of the homeless women has a Ph.D. in art history. Gradually her mind had slipped out of her grasp. Esther, who had talked to herself all evening, was the mother of five children.

Evelyn Bence silently prayed to herself, "Lord, thank you. Thank you - that I'm not one of them." Immediately she felt guilty for thinking of it this way. It dawned on her that her own comfortable world, her secure home, was not guaranteed. Instead of thinking, "Thank you I'm not one of them," she now thought up a new prayer --

"Thank you for the grace you have shown to me, and help me to mirror your grace to others."

Be thankful for God's undeserved grace.

A Fresh look at the Beatitudes of Jesus.

1. Blessed Poverty

2. Blessed Grief

3. Blessed Meekness

4. Blessed Hunger

5. Blessed Mercy

6. Blessed Purity

7. Blessed Warfare

As Gandhi stepped aboard a train one day, one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the track. He was unable to retrieve it as the train was moving. To the amazement of his companions, Gandhi calmly took off his other shoe and threw it back along the track to land close to the first. Asked by a fellow passenger why he did so, Gandhi smiled. "The poor man who finds the shoes lying on the track," he replied, "will now have a pair he can use."

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Source unknown; first quoted in The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul; copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen

James Boice once heard a statement given by the great vaudeville actress Sophie Tucker. She was being asked by reporters about her early struggles before she became a success, and whether or not she had been happy in her years of poverty. She answered, "Listen, I’ve been rich, and I've been poor. And believe me, honey, rich is better!"

"Dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful," Thomas Robert Malthus wrote in his celebrated, infamous ESSAY ON POPULATION in 1798. It began an intense debate that is being repeated now. Others blamed poverty on rapid industrialization but Malthus argued England was subsidizing indolence. The Poor Laws, he wrote, "create the poor which they maintain."

In 1834 England set a new course and decided to stigmatize the able-bodied dependent poor. They would be deemed "less eligible" for assistance and called PAUPERS. They would receive relief only if they worked for it, in a poorhouse. This "had a shock effect that was very real," writes the historian Gertrude Himmelfarb. The number of paupers "decreased substantially after the passage of the law." The money spent on poverty declined from 6.7 million Pounds Sterling to 4.5 million per year, on average, during the decade in which the law was passed.

As they tackled dependency, the Victorians had two distinct advantages that do not exist now: a rapidly expanding economy and - far more important - a universal and unequivocal moral code. In any case, the problem was less severe. Rates of illegitimacy were halved in the 19th century - but they declined from 7 percent to less than 4. Today there are whole slum neighborhoods where traditional family life has ceased to exist. The cause is government handouts, loss of jobs, television, predatory marketing and a mass culture that has descended to the most primal common denominator. [Examples of talk show topics, heavy on sex.]

The problem of moral decay in society cannot be solved by laws, or censorship or by merely changing the behavior of the poor. It requires a broad recognition that civilization is fragile and we are slip-sliding toward turpitude. It requires liberals to acknowledge that morality is not relative - and conservatives to admit that enterprise must have limits. It is not so easy to "hold disgraceful" the dependent poor if the rest of society is shameless.

When William Tecumseh Sherman’s army marched through Georgia in 1864, about 25,000 blacks followed his infantry columns, until Sherman and his soldiers decided to rid themselves of the followers by hurrying across an unfordable stream and then taking up the pontoon bridge, leaving the ex-slaves stranded on the opposite bank. Many tried to swim across but died in the icy water.

Similarly today, many of the stranded poor will soon be abandoned by a country that has seen welfare failure and is lapsing into a skeptical and even cynical “compassion [fatigue?] syndrome” — unless we find a way to renew the American dream of compassion.

America had successful anti-poverty programs a century ago — successful because they embodied personal, material, and spiritual involvement and challenge.

This vital story has generally been ignored by liberal historians, but the documented history goes like this: During the nineteenth century, a successful war on poverty was waged by tens of thousands of local, private charitable agencies and religious groups around the country. The platoons of the greatest charity army in American history often were small. They were made up of volunteers led by poorly paid but deeply dedicated professional managers. And they were highly effective.

Thousands of eyewitness accounts and journalistic assessments show that poverty fighters of the nineteenth century did not abolish poverty, but they enabled millions of people to escape it. They saw springs of fresh water flowing among the poor, not just blocks of ice sitting in a perpetual winter of multi-generational welfare dependency. And the optimism prevalent then contrasts sharply with the demoralization among the poor and the cynicism among the better-off that is so common now.

What was their secret? It was not neglect. It was their understanding of the literal and biblical meaning of compassion, which comes from two Latin words — “com,” which means “with,” and “pati,” which means “to suffer.” The word points to personal involvement with the needy, suffering with them, not just giving to them. “Suffering with” means adopting hard-to-place babies, providing shelter to women undergoing crisis pregnancies, becoming a big brother to a fatherless child, working one-on-one with a young single mother. It is not easy — but it works.

The religious right claims to speak for God but it neglects important issues. Evangelicalism has a long heritage of applying the gospel to the downtrodden and poor while current believers are cutting the poor off.

Our times cry out for renewed political vision. And vision depends upon spirited values. Because the crisis we face is spiritual, it must be responded to by solutions that address the "spirit" of the times that often lies beneath our political and economic problems. Social responsibility is at the heart of our biblical traditions, racism and sexism are also sins, and the best test of a nation's righteousness is not its gross national product and military firepower but, according to the prophets, how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable. It is time to call our churches back to a biblical focus that transcends the left and the right.

#3185

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I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things.

My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money. By 1946 my older sisters were married, and my brothers had left home.

A month before Easter, the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.

When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering.

Then we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house- and yard-cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us baby-sat for everyone we could. For 15 cents, we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1. We made $20 on pot holders.

That month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church, so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.

The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before.

That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get to church!

On Sunday morning, rain was pouring down. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet. But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt so rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting in the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us girls put in a $20. As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes!

Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope, and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10, and seventeen $1 bills.

Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, we just sat and stared at the floor. We'd gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash.

We kids had had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have parents like ours and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the fork or the spoon that night. We had two knives, which we passed around to whoever needed them.

I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor. That Easter Day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor.

I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed that I didn't want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor! I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew we were poor. I decided I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time.

We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor.

We didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing, but no one joined in, and she only sang one verse.

At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?"

We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene, Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy, Ocy put it in the offering.

When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."

Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100." We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so?

-------------------------

EDDIE OGAN lives in Washington with her husband, Phil. They have one son by birth and 11 children by adoption. This article was taken from a letter she wrote to encourage some missionaries.

___________________________________________________________________________

[version in sermon, changed to third person]

Eddie Smith will never forget Easter 1946. She was 14, her little sister Ocy 12, and her older sister Darlene 16. They lived at home with their mother, and the four of them knew what it was to do without many things. Her dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money. By 1946 her older sisters were married, and her brothers had left home.

A month before Easter, the pastor of their church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.

When they got home, they talked about what they could do. They decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow them to save $20 of their grocery money for the offering.

Then they thought that if they kept their electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, they'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house- and yard-cleaning jobs as possible, and she and Eddie baby-sat for everyone they could. For 15 cents, they could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1. They made $20 on pot holders.

That month was one of the best of their lives. Every day they counted the money to see how much they had saved. At night they'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. Their church had around 80 people, so they figured that whatever amount of money they had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.

The day before Easter, Ocy and Eddie walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give them three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all their change. They ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. They had never had so much money before.

That night they were so excited they could hardly sleep. They didn't care that they wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; they had $70 for the sacrificial offering. They could hardly wait to get to church!

On Sunday morning, rain was pouring down. They didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from their home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet they got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet. But they sat in church proudly. Eddie heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. Eddie looked at them in their new clothes, and Eddie felt so rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, they were sitting in the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of the girls put in a $20. As they walked home after church, they sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for them. She had bought a dozen eggs, and they had boiled Easter eggs with their fried potatoes!

Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. They asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope, and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10, and seventeen $1 bills.

Mom put the money back in the envelope. They didn't talk, they just sat and stared at the floor. They'd gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash.

The Smith kids had had such a happy life that they felt sorry for anyone who didn't have parents like theirs. They thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether they got the fork or the spoon that night. They had two knives, which they passed around to whoever needed them.

Eddie knew they didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but she'd never thought they were poor. That Easter Day Eddie found out they were. The minister had brought them the money for the poor family, so they must be poor.

They sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and they went to bed. All that week, they girls went to school and came home, and no one Talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked them what they wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? They didn't know. They'd never known they were poor.

Eddie didn't like being poor. She looked at her dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed that she didn't want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew they were poor! She thought about school. Eddie was in the ninth grade and at the top of her class of over 100 students. She wondered if the kids at school knew they were poor. Eddie decided she could quit school since she had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time.

They didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said they had to. Although it was a sunny day, they didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing, but no one joined in, and she only sang one verse.

At church they had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't they all sacrifice to help these poor people?"

They looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene, Darlene gave it to me, and Eddie handed it to Ocy, Ocy put it in the offering.

When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from their small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."

Suddenly it struck them! They had given $87 of that "little over $100." They were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so?

In the winter of 1990, I was asked to appear on a television talk show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the end of our first day of taping I was on my way back to my plush, high-rise, cable-TV, twenty-four-hour room service hotel, when I saw something I’d never seen before.

Lying on the sidewalk against a building in four inches of snow was a man sleeping with only a cardboard blanket to keep him from being completely exposed to the freezing cold. What really broke my heart was when I realized that he wore no shoes or socks.

I thought to stop and help him but was not quite sure what to do. As the traffic light turned green, it seemed life was demanding that I move along. So I did. Back in the “anything I wanted was mine” environment of my hotel, I promptly forgot about the man on the street.

Several days later, prior to the morning taping, I was having coffee and Danish in the green room at the station. All of the “important” people had left the room and it was just me and the janitor remaining.

I had seen him quietly go about his business every day while I was there, and he never said a word except “Good morning” or “Can I get anything for you, sir?” He always had a smile to give to everyone. When I asked him how he was feeling today, he told me that he’d been having to ride his bike to work in the snow and that he’d been feeling rather sorry for himself … that is, until he saw a man sleeping down on the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor with just a piece of cardboard for covering from the cold and no shoes. I almost choked on my Danish as I heard him go on to relate how he was so moved with compassion for the man that he went around the corner to a store and bought the man a pair of socks and shoes.

As I heard his story, I saw in my mind a poster that used to be in an old friend’s bedroom when I was a teenager. It was a picture of a child handing someone a flower and the caption read: “THE SMALLEST DEED ALWAYS EXCEEDS THE GRANDEST OF INTENTIONS.”

I stood there wishing it was me who had bought the shoes and socks for the man, when they called my name to come to the set.

As I got to the studio, they were just concluding an interview with a social worker who specialized in benevolence for eastern Ontario. The social worker relayed a story about Mother Teresa, who when asked once how she had accomplished such great things in her life responded, “NONE OF US CAN DO ANYTHING GREAT ON OUR OWN, BUT WE CAN ALL DO A SMALL THING WITH GREAT LOVE.”

When I went home that day, I looked for the man on the street. He was gone, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone took his place.

–––––––––––-

By Michael Peterson from Chicken Soup for the Country Soul, Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Ron Camacho

#4436

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HOW TO KNOW THE LORD

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(1) Thinking Biblically About Justice

"Justice and righteousness...Caring for the poor and needy ... Is not this to know me? says the Lord". Jer. 22:15b-16

Christians of all kinds - Catholic, Conciliar and Evangelical - are now more concerned than ever about social justice. Theology is never a "value-free" discipline, and in a world of stark injustices, many are doing theology from the side of the poor, rather than from an acquiescent, privatised Western perspective.

For CATHOLICS, Mater et Magistra (1961) broke the long alliance between Catholicism and socially conservative forces. Twenty years later Laborem Exercens inveighed against multinationals fixing high prices for their products and very low prices for raw materials.

EVANGELICALS in Berlin (1966) saw social involvement as the enemy of "biblical evangelism'; Lausanne 91974) viewed them as complementary; Wheaton (1983) saw social action and political engagement as integral to evangelism.

The WCC's Towards a Church in Solidarity with the Poor (1980) urges us to read the Bible from the perspective of the poor: :The Bible is a book of hope, concern and solidarity with the poor .... Unfortunately when the poor were given low priority in the life of the churches ... ecclesiastical institutions frequently become part of oppressive systems."

...

Who am I to write on this subject? I belong to the group least qualified to speak about justice and the poor. I am a white, Anglo-saxon Protestant evangelical, middle-class, middle-aged, well-educated (and beardless) living in a rich, lucky country (Australia) with a happy family in a quiet, treed suburb. I can "work" most systems to my advantage. My job's fulfilling, I earn about the national average, I've been twice around the world. I've worked hard, saved hard, studied hard, and I play hard. As a kid I scrounged bottles, animal manure and scrap metal for pocket money. We were not rich, but we were never hungry.

I grew up believing most of the poor were either lazy or stupid. Why the constant shortage of bricklayers? If Japan can do it, why not Bangladesh?

Righteous indignation focused on things like pornography, violence and sexual sins, rarely such macro-ethical issues as poverty, injustice, race and war.

My "conversion" began when I found that most of those who served the poor did not share these ideas. Dom Helder Camara, for example, flirted with fascism ("God, Fatherland and Family", "order is more important than justice") until he worked in the favelas in Rio - those festering piles of human beings separated by bits of cardboard and corrugated iron.

Paulo Freire says the middle class have a choice - to identify with the rich and influential, or with the poor, who have very few choices. Such a conversion is scary: there's fear of giving up what we have worked hard for; guilt that what we spend on luxuries would keep many starving families alive; a feeling of helplessness ...

The income gap between the poor and the rich, everywhere, is widening. Since the Industrial Revolution we've never learned to share it properly. It's not "trickling down" to the ever-increasing poor.

*****

THE BIBLE is certainly big on justice. The hebrew and greek words for justice (yashare and tsedeg, and dikaiosune) may have three meanings: personal virtue (Noah, or Joseph, were "just" Gen. 6:9, Matt. 1:19); judicial fairness (:Lev.19) or social responsibility: behaviour towards others which is like a covenant God's gracious concern for us. Unfortunately the KJV's use of "righteousness" for tsedeg gives the impression, not of justice, but rather holiness of living, which is an important but diminished understanding of the biblical idea.

Social justice concerns attitudes to the least privileged - the poor, widows, orphans, foreigners. When harvesting, the Israelites were to leave them something (Deut. 24:19-21). Interest on loans is forbidden (Ex. 22:25). All persons - including slaves and migrants - are entitled to rest on the sabbath (Ex. 23:12, Deut. 5:14). Slaves must not be treated harshly (Lev. 25:39-43). There is a clear relationship between oppression and poverty: "Remember you were once slaves" (Deut. 26:5-8). The God of the Exodus intervenes on behalf of the powerless and oppressed: so must his people.

The message of the prophets: "Seek justice, correct oppression" (Is. 1:17). They thunder against the rich and powerful who oppress the poor but their outrage is strongest against a religion devoid of justice (Hosea 6:6, 8:13; Amos 5:15, 21-25; Micah 6:6-8, Is. 58:1-11; cf. Prov. 21:3). God accepts or rejects Israel's worship according to their concern for the poor. Even prayer mustn't be a substitute for helping the poor (isa. 1:15-17). In the relatively affluent 8th century Israel, poverty was not accidental. The prosperity of the rich rested largely on the exploitation and mistreatment of the poor - through a legal system biased towards the rich, monopoly control, restrictive trade practices, unjust wages and arbitrary price increases. Many of the poor had lost their land to large property owners. Later, Ezekiel rebukes the rich for unscrupulously accumulating real estate for profit (22:28).

Many of the Psalms describe God judging the world with justice (e.g. 96:13; cf. 97:6, 98:9). His will is that justice and peace kiss each other (85:10-11). "The Lord executes justice for the oppressed" (146:7).

The angel's message to Zechariah promises that John, in the prophetic tradition, would summon a people "back to the way of thinking of the righteous" (Luke 1:17) (not "national self-interest"!).

Mary's Magnificat praises a God who shows mercy, scatters the proud, puts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry (and by these means "helps Israel" Luke 1:46-55).

Jesus" ministry will bring good news to the poor ... announce a "jubilee" (Luke 4:16-19). In the Jubilee (Lev. 25:3-5, 8-12) soil was to be left fallow, debts remitted, slaves liberated, and property returned to owners who had forfeited it by debt.

God in Christ becomes poor, choosing the weak, as Paul says, to "confound the mighty". The Kingdom, says Jesus, is given to the poor (and to the rich if they will repent). It is all about new relationships - with God, with others. It turns our customary values upside down: so the "first in the kingdom" are those with no status in society. The poor are blessed, not because of their poverty and misery, nor because they are "better" than others but because they recognize their need for God (Matthew 11:5, 5:3-11, Luke 6:20). To the rich, the gospel is "bad news before it is good news", so the rich young ruler, with his inordinate love of money and power is told to sell his possessions and give them to the poor so that he could have "treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19:16-30). It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom. We echo the words of Jesus' friends: "Who then can be saved?" No wonder the poor, the outcasts, the "excluded" heard him gladly. He enjoyed parties with disreputables, so the religious establishment was outraged at his behaviour. They "rubbed in' the fact that he was from Nazareth, an obscure therefore despised town.

The Kingdom is not something we passively await (as the Thessalonians later thought), but we help make the kingdom happen. There is mystery here: we must sow seed, God gives the gift of life, so that we can reap the harvest. He calls us to be co-redeemers with him. "They have no wine" at Cana, so Jesus asks for the cooperation of the servants as he produces some. Today, they have no jobs, no justice, no opportunities, no freedoms, no homes, no hope. If we don't fill the jars, there will be no miracle......

Jesus cut across selfish patriotisms and universalized the idea of "neighbour". Injustice done to anyone, anywhere, is my concern. One's neighbour is chosen, not given, as Hans King put it.

At the great judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) we shall learn that to serve others in their need is to serve the Lord himself. To ignore the poor is to turn away from the Lord. To be persecuted for the sake of justice is to be persecuted for the sake of Jesus (Matt. 5:6, 10,11).

The NT epistles are replete with admonitions to care for the poor (e.g. Gal. 2:10, James 2:5-7, 5:1-6, 1 John 3:17, 1 Tim. 6:17-19). Greed is a cardinal sin, a form of idolatry (1 Cor. 5:10-11, 6:10, Eph. 4:19, 5:3, 5, Col. 3:5).

The Bible does not condemn inequality of possessions per se. Redistribution so that "all have an equal share" is not a biblical idea. Those who argue this way will have to do it on philosophical or socio-political rather than biblical grounds. (Jesus enjoyed Galilee's feasting and suffered Golgotha's thirst. Paul experienced both prosperity and poverty, Phil. 4:12). What the Bible condemns is indifference by the affluent to the plight of the destitute. We "bless the poor", not paternalistically, but as God has blessed us - "grace justice" rather than "parity justice". The goal of justice is not equality, but shalom, a peace which assures the true humanity of individuals and communities.

*****

A THEOLOGY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE must include the following:

* Every human being is made in God's image. (So we uphold the right of every person to live in freedom, in dignity, in peace, in health, and to know the One whom to know is to experience fullness of life).

* Our generous Creator has entrusted us with a bountiful world, which we "subdue" but also "replenish". The earth was given to all, not just to the rich. (There is enough food to go around - for our need, but not our greed. It is not God's will that a quarter of us live in luxury while the rest struggle to survive).

*The "mark of Cain" is upon us - we are all sinners - but God's gracious concern is for both Cain and Abel, exploiter and exploited. (Jesus differentiated between "sinners" and "sinned against". To the Pharisees he preached judgment, so that they might receive forgiveness; to the sinned-against - 'I do not condemn you: go and sin no more").

* I am my brother's keeper. (I must not walk by on the other side of the road/tracks/sea).

* He sends his prophets who say "The effect of justice will be peace" (Isa. 32:17). False prophets want "peace, peace" without justice).

* Abundance may betoken God's blessing, but it carries an awesome stewardship. Because God's shalom issues in and from right relationships between us and God and each other, we have a simple choice: his kingdom, or violence. (Outside the kingdom all are oppressed, some by unjust systems and persons, others by their selfishness and greed. Jesus said the second oppression is much worse than the first).

* God comes among us both as judge and victim (rebuking our selfishness and being nailed to a cross).

* He calls upon us to repent, to live in radical obedience to the Kingdom's demands, not just as individuals, but in loving community. (A mural in a Romanian church shows people ascending into heaven in community, but falling into hell alone and isolated).

* We pray "Give us this day our daily bread". (If I am hungry that is a material problem; if someone else is hungry, that is a spiritual problem - Berdyaev).

* Our mission in a lost world includes word (preaching good news), deed (faith without works is dead), and sign (words and deeds without the Spirit's power may not be Christian, 1 Thess. 1:5, I Cor. 4:20).

Finally, something to ponder from Billy Graham's latest book Approaching Hoof Beats: "My basic commitment as a Christian has not changed, nor has my view of the Gospel, but I have come to see in deeper ways that implications of my faith and the message I have been proclaiming. I can no longer proclaim the Cross and the Resurrection without proclaiming the whole message of the Kingdom, which is justice for all."

In the next section we shall look at the five practical ways of Doing Justice (research, reflection, prayer, compassion, action).

*******

(2) DOING JUSTICE

"The really important teachings of the Law (are) justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practise...." (Matthew 23:23)

(1) RESEARCH: GET THE FACTS. Talk to the "poor" - single parents, unemployed, migrants - and to social workers, district nurses, etc.

Who are the poor? Definitions are elusive, but the poor know who they are. They have no "place". Some are poor geographically, "displaced". Others are poor emotionally, with no place in a loving family/community. Others are poor spiritually, having no place in Christ's kingdom. Many are materially poor - they are deprived, within their communities, of the basic necessities to "live decently". In Australia, they may not be starving, but they can't afford a good education or holidays, or car repairs, or all the bills.

Why are they poor? Is it their own fault? Most answers are either too simple or untrue. Perhaps it's the death of a parent, ill-health, physical/mental disability, collapse of a business, breakdown of marriage, lack of basic education, medical bills for sick children - the list may be endless. Bishop Peter Hollingworth: "....the causes of poverty are precipitated more by problems in the organization and structures of society than by individuals themselves."

Which brings up to economics. Our national and international systems revolve around greed and power: "the international imperialism of money" (pope Paul VI). People are rich or poor because of the "distribution system"; what makes money gets done, what doesn't make money doesn't get done. Richard Nixon, when U.S. president said in a moment of candour, "The main purpose of American aid is not to help other nations, but to help ourselves."

Selling powdered milk to poor people (who can't read the directions) makes money, so - until too many babies die - why not? And your morning cuppa coffee: it's grown in the two-thirds world, where people are hungry. We have money for coffee while people in Sao Paulo's favelas have no money for food. So the plantation owners grow coffee for us instead of black beans for them. Understand? (It's the same with tobacco: and, incidentally, if you smoke and drink coffee you are 40 times more likely to get lung cancer than if you imbibe neither). Brazil has more cultivated acreage per person than the U.S. , yet in recent years the proportion of undernourished there has risen from 45% to 72% of the population.

1.9% of El Salvadorans won 57.5% of the land - mainly selling cash crops abroad while at home hunger is endemic. Archbishop Oscar Romero spoke out against his country's injustices and the newspapers almost daily vilified him as corrupt, insance, a communist - and never printed his sermons. (Many wealthy El Salvadorans are mass-going Catholics too). Behind him on an office wall were huge photos of two priests who were murdered, and a banner HE WHO GIVES HIS LIFE FOR ME IS SAVED. Romero was shot while celebrating the eucharist on 24 March, 1980. In El Salvador, to work among the poor is an act of subversion.

The multinational corporations exist to make money for their stockholders, and they do it very well (Coco Cola invested $80,000 in India and by 1977 had made $16m. profit). Dom Helder Camara has been saying for years that if rich nations paid fair prices to developing countries for their natural resources there would no longer be any need for aid and relief projects. Most developing countries rely on cash from one or two products. For example, in 1960 three tons of bananas in Honduras could buy a tractor; but in 1970, the equivalent was eleven tons. They says it's each government's role to legislate morality. (But if the government is in the pocket of the multinationals, and against the poor.....?).

Heard of Minimata disease? A company in an Asian country kept dumping mercury into the water for years after knowing it was causing paralysis, retardation, insanity and death. The company was simply making money. There's money in mercury poisoning, red dye #2, fluorocarbons, alcohol, and a million other harmful things.

Back home, # 50% of Australian uni students are from families in the top 16% of the occupational scale # About 35,000 households in Victoria alone have their gas and electricity disconnected each year: many others go hungry to avoid this (they choose hunger to being cold). Over 100,000 each year are now seeking help for food, clothing and rent from relief agencies.

What are the functions of poverty in a country like Australia? Peter le Breton (Australian Politics, A Fourth Reader , pp. 99-100) says they include: (1) Dirty, repetitive, dangerous, undignified and menial work is done (mostly for low pay) (2) The rich can divert a higher proportion of income to savings and investment, to foster economic growth the benefits of which mostly favour the rich (3) If you're rich enough you'll pay little or no tax: the tax burden falls unequally on poorer wage-earners (4) Poverty creates jobs like corrective services, police, social workers (5) The poor buy goods no one else wants - secondhand cars, clothes etc. - enhancing incomes for sellers of these commodities (6) Those who espouse social norms of the desirability of hard work and thrift can accuse others of being lazy and spendthrift. So these latter are, of course, undeserving of the privileges the former enjoy (7) The deserving poor (e.g. the disabled) can allow the rest of us to feel altruistic, moral, and practise the Judaeo-Christian ethic (8) The powerless absorb the economic and social costs of change and growth: they are pushed out of their communities by high rents, urban "development" and freeways to convey the middle-class from the suburbs to the central business district .....

For Jesus when a system got in the way of people's wholeness, it had to go. Inveighing against the pharisees' legalistic religious system he said, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Our systems are mostly serving mammon, so we too will call for systemic change. We may not hold to any particular economic/political theory: a Christian is called to critique all ideologies. (As the cynic put it, capitalism is man exploiting his fellow-man; with communism it's the other way around!!). Systems either do God's will, or they are under his judgment .....

(2) REFLECTION; THINK ABOUT THE FACTS Working hard to think clearly is the beginning of moral conduct (Pascal). Reflection and praxis go together. If one is sacrificed the other suffers (Freire). Some are too quietist, seeking only bliss, or too philosophical, seeking only ideas, or too activist, seeking only bread. (Don't just do something, sit there!).

Beware of temptations not to think objectively. Our church congregations are mostly embedded in the rich half of society, so our "suburban captivity" can be self-protective. We meet few destitute "hidden people".

The problems are complex, but some things can be said simply:

2-1 Poverty is not just a lack of resources, but of power, of knowledge, of help and of hope. Poverty is loneliness. So it's not alleviated by handouts alone, but when the poor themselves become givers.

2-2 The best prophet of the future is the past, Lord Byron said. Reinhold Niebuhr has argued (convincingly in my view, in Moral Man and Immoral Society) that is we wait for the powerful to come altruistic we will wait forever. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The powerful have never - well, hardly ever - relinquished their privileges without some form of coercion being applied to them., Those with a biblical view of sin and evil won't find that surprising.

The dictionary says power is "the capacity to act". Because the exercise of power-for-good may be dangerous Christians often have an aversion to the use of power. Power means responsibility: and flight from power may mean a flight from responsibility.

2-3 Let us beware of "selective indignation", preaching only against evils threatening my family/group/church. Ask what Jesus got mad about .... And I accept myself as part of the problem, rather than blaming others: what have I not done that causes this one to be poor?

2-4 Our education system encourages us to "succeed" - which may not be the same as enhancing good human relationships. There's a tension in education between conformity to and the transformation of society. Some education may aim at collecting knowledge and certificates; transformation means asking how education can be liberating. (In Latin America learning to read is more than learning a skill, as in the West. It's a revolutionary activity as people learn about values and rights. That's why the powerful keep people illiterate).

2-5 Each of the world's peoples has its own particular cultural, ethnic and political distinctives: these must be respected. "First world" models of development may not be appropriate to developing countries. May we arrogant westerners be sensitive to the feelings of some overseas oppressed who consider us impertinent meddlers in their affairs. In the film "Gandhi" I remember that great man saying to the British, "Let us fail, if necessary, but with dignity, rather than have you here running things better while we are deprived of our liberty." The "excluded" must become the subjects of their own history, being part of the decision-making, and encouraged to control their own destinies. If an oppressed group is not crushed completely, they will organize themselves to defend their rights and values. With regard to injustice, we - the helpers - must always ask, What do the helpees want us to do? Speak out or not? Exert pressure on their oppressors or not? Engage in some form of activism or not?"

2-6 "Uou can't legislate morality" is a cop-out. All that is legislated is morality: the question is "What kind?" When the state fails to legislate mercifully, the church will do what it can, and will call the state to account, as the prophets did.

2-7 Jesus grew up in an oppressed country. The Zealots were "freedom fighters", Herodians and Sadducees went along with the status quo; Essenes withdrew to the desert; Pharisees debated questions of private morality. Jesus disappointed them all, renouncing violence, exploitation, apathy and moralism: they're all dehumanizing. His was the way of sacrificial love.

(3) PRAY. Ask "Who are my people?" then pray fervently for them - and their oppressors. Prayer, says Jacques Ellul (Prayer and Modern Man) is the ultimate act of hope. Prayer is "God with us" in our struggle. It is the only possible substitute for violence in human relations. Without sincere and earnest prayer the church can easily develop a bureaucratic oppressive mind-set, becoming an ally of, and operating like, worldly powers. Prayer rescues action from activism, and inaction from bewilderment and despair. But prayer is not a substitute for action. Contemplative love is not the end, but a means to the end of authentic love. As Thomas Merton once put it, let us not forget that Mary and Martha are sisters.

(4) FEEL. This is "listening presence", compassion, identification and encounter (i.e. incarnation). We won't do this as well as Jesus did but we must try. Reality is much more than objective facts. We must not act for others merely through feelings of personal outrage, but when - and until - through caring friendship we earn the right to be invited to be their helper or advocate. Such feeling presence enables us to transcend narrow bigotries. (Pharaoh's daughter saw more than a baby crying; she saw the baby of an oppressed Hebrew crying). Our practical help and advocacy for the poor will have the marks of suffering - the beatings, crown of thorns, and the nails - if we are truly the church of Jesus Christ. Only thus will it be sacramental, mediating the grace of God to those in need.

(5) ACT CREATIVELY. We must do theology, not just be committed to reflection on reflection.

Let us not ever be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problems: if enough individuals act, in concert, almost any problem can be solved. To act is to effect change; godly action is to bring in the kingdom somewhere on earth. Robbers move against their victim; the priest and levite have a passive mind-set and move away - to be "neutral" (encouraging more injustice); the Samaritan uses the materials at his disposal (donkey, oil, wine, clothes, money, physical strength, compassion. In our culture he would also make representations to the police about security on the Jericho Road).

The church is involved politically if it does nothing: it is voting for the status quo. All it takes for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing. The villains in Jesus' stories were seldom men who did things they ought not to have done; usually they were people who left undone the things they should have done. The rich man let Lazarus lie unhelped at his gate; the servant made no use of his talent - these received the severest condemnation. The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Churches are bearers of traditions concerning ultimate meaning and value, and are already organized, so they are ideal mediating groups in our society.

If "charity begins at home" then a church will ask: "What needs exist in our neighbourhood, and what resources do we have to meet them?" Day-0care facilities, a food box in the foyer, counseling centre (with fees related to ability to pay), housing for the homeless/elderly, writing letters to keep elected officials honest - these are some beginnings. Above all, let us build "shalom churches" where the values we preach to the world are incarnated in the faith community.

However, charity is not justice. A charitable act is a somewhat spontaneous, temporary, non-controversial response to an accident or tragedy. Conditions of injustice are not accidents. They are never "acts of God" but acts of men. To relieve victims of injustice demands that the root causes of injustice be addressed and removed. Charitable acts must not be a substitute for this more controversial pursuit. Giving a pneumonia sufferer a box of tissues may be of some comfort, but it is irrelevant to the victim's recovery, which depends on other factors.

Father Brian Gore, an Australian priest held for 14 months in a Philippine prison, said recently that aid organizations were actually supporting a system of injustice when they do not ask why Filipinos went hungry. "An organization which exclusively looks at the effects rather than the causes is a dead loss", he said. We must therefore be involved in process as well as projects. Camara's best-known quote is devastating on this issue: "When I give money to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask 'why are they poor?' they call me a communist!" From a biblical perspective, mercy and justice belong together.

Individual activism can be encouraged. Jeremiah got across ideas through "prophetic signs" - going around in a loin-cloth, wearing a wooden yoke, etc. These are more than symbols, they are dramatic parables of judgment, arousing peoples' inquisitiveness and enabling them to hear God's message more clearly. Our mass media would notice this sort of thing! Collective advocacy is usually more effective however )prophets today can also be dismissed as crackpots). Public opinion can be changed. (In Australia, unfortunately, it's not the quality of the opinion that counts, but how many hold it. Our elected representatives mostly follow public opinion, they do not lead it, as in some European countries).

Often church councils and assemblies think they're doing something when they pass resolutions. Being reactive rather than active, these often change nothing, if they are not linked with other courses of action. (An offensive U.S. TV show interviewed married couples in their bedrooms about their sex lives. Churches passed resolutions which changed nothing - until someone organized 5000 families to boycott the sponsors!)

Such activities force us to ask tough questions. Polarizations will occur; we may find ourselves crusading with the "ratbag element"; and we'll discover that self-interest and power games exist even in churches!

FINALLY, the evils here are ubiquitous, huge and complex. But we must not succumb to immobility: let us do something, and be free to learn through failing, if necessary. Let us repent of our sins of omission before we blame others for their sins of injustice. Then let us get involved. Fighting poverty is war: the violence of poverty kills just as surely as bullets. I am convinced, however, that we must fight this war non-violently. Christ gave his life for others who could not save themselves: let us give our lives for the wretched of the earth. Let us begin with ourselves, and in a world of crying need, adjust our lifestyle accordingly. Let us renounce addictions, especially those involving the desire for immediate gratification. Let us be Christ to others", as Luther put it - serving the, being advocates for them, acting as agents for change. Albert Einstein once said: "The problems of the world cannot be solved with mechanisms, but only by changing the hearts and minds of man and speaking courageously."

But remember, there's no point in bearing a cross if you don't believe in resurrection.

*

That Sunday morning I stared into our nearly empty refrigerator trying to imagine how I'd stretch our food to last us the rest of the week. My two kids and I had just moved from a shelter for abused women into a small, low-rent apartment. I wasn't sure where lunch would come from, let alone Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I was tired of praying for miracles, tired of worrying about how we would get by.

“We'd better get going to church,” I told the kids.

“Wait!” cried my four-year-old son, P.J., climbing onto the counter to open a kitchen cabinet while three-year-old Amanda reached into the refrigerator. “Don't you remember, Mommy? We're supposed to bring something for the poor.”

Yes, that's what the pastor at our new church had said. How could I tell my son we were the poor? “We don't have anything to bring.” I said, closing the refrigerator door just as Amanda extracted a single droopy carrot. P.J. held up a dusty can of peas he'd found. “Sure we do!” he said.

It's bad enough my children have to go to a new church dressed in old clothes, I thought. Now I'm letting them bring rotten food to the altar.

By the time we got to church and grabbed a pew in back, the altar was overflowing with offerings – turkeys, pies and loaves of bread. I knew that a fraction of that bounty could feed my family for a month. I whispered a familiar prayer: “Lord, help us get on our feet again.”

P.J. and Amanda picked up their offerings.

They walked toward the altar, P.J. in his little suit that was too short in the sleeves, Amanda holding her carrot in front of her like a candle. All heads tamed to watch. The pastor pointed to where they could leave their gifts. A murmur ran through the crowd and people smiled.

I felt a rush of pride. P.J. and Amanda had found something to give while I saw only empty shelves. As it turned out those shelves weren't empty for long. Members of our church showed up on our doorstep with more than enough for a Thanksgiving feast. Looking at the bounty, I thought of others I knew who could use a little extra. “Come on,” I said to my kids, “let's see if we can share some Thanksgiving.”

__________

Tina Fenech, Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Source: Guideposts, Copyright (c) November 2000, http://www.guideposts.org

*

[Illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9192]

Too often those who are poor today feel that they should be

receivers and not givers. The fact is, however, we should learn to

be givers when we are poor, and before we gain wealth. Consider

the following quotation:

"If you give to charity while you are poor, you will eventually

give in days of wealth. If you do not give while you are rich, you

will eventually abstain from giving because of poverty. God has

willed that there be two hands in the matter of charity -- one that

gives and one that receives. Thank God that yours is the hand that

gives. Say not, 'I will miss what I give.' Be like the sheep who

give their wool and have no less the next year because they have

given. -- Tan Huma Rabbinic Literature

The Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis tells about a preacher who lived in Europe many years ago. It had always been the dream of this man to travel to Jerusalem to visit the tomb of Christ. Finally, after 40 years of saving, he accumulated enough money to make the trip.

As he was walking down the road, he came upon a pale, emaciated man struggling to dig roots out of the ground. They struck up a conversation. “Where are you going, reverend?” asked the poor man. The preacher said, “I am going to Jerusalem to see Christ's tomb. I want to march around it three times and pray.”

The man in the field was astonished. “That trip will cost much money!” “Yes,” the preacher responded, “all my life's savings.”

The poor man hesitated for a moment, then ventured, “Reverend, why not march around me three times and give me the money so that my wife and children might have food?”

And the preacher did. He never saw where Christ had been buried, but he received an even greater blessing. He saw where Christ was alive and living - in other people.

__________

Mark Sutton, Missions Today, Feb. 1996, p.26

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.

With this the boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one's person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy and appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends.

*

The Beatitudes in the gospel of Luke talk about the poor — people who have nothing. Matthew, by contrast, describes those who are “poor in spirit.” Now most of us prefer Matthew, because we can rationalize away this verse as a command to just be humble. But in Luke, I think, Jesus really means POOR, those who live in poverty. God favors them not because He is sorry for them, but because they have an increased capacity for purity in their faith. Many of the idols that stand between us and our Lord have been stripped away for the poor.

Tim Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church, argues that many of us have a middle-class spirit. Yes, we want Jesus to redeem us from our sins and give us eternal life. But we're hardly dependent on Him — we don't need to be. We've got our 401(k)s and savings accounts. When the car breaks down, we get it fixed. If we get tired of our furniture, we buy new furniture. Are we depending on God or the idol of our own affluence? I suspect the latter. I have to admit that as hard as I try, I have many, many idols.

A few years ago I took my two sons and my daughter to Peru to visit our ministry there. We met a man who lived in a hut atop a garbage dump. He had almost nothing in the way of material possessions — yet his eyes sparkled as we visited in his home. He had a quiet dignity. He was living in abject poverty — yet, his love for God was deep. Fewer obstacles stood between him and the Lord — because he had no one and nothing to trust except God.

The great danger of a comfortable lifestyle, on the other hand, is that we may worship idols unawares. The answer, as Keller argues, is to vanquish our middle-class attitudes and adopt the spirit of the poor — to seek after that purity of love in our relationship with Jesus that I found on that garbage dump in Peru.

There's a good lesson for all of us here, especially in this wealthiest of nations: It's wonderful to have all of our creature comforts, of course, but with them come idols. And to get close to God, we must vanquish the idols.

__________

Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. “BreakPoint with Chuck Colson” is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

Could last weekend's “Live8” event, rock concerts worldwide raising the awareness of poverty in Africa, be considered a success? That depends on how you define success. Putting aside my misgivings about the self-congratulatory nature of the event, Sir Bob Geldof and company did indeed focus the world's attention on the desperate needs of the African people. And the organizers were determined to put pressure on the G-8 nations meeting today in Scotland to pump billions into Africa.

Now, I don't want to rain on Geldof's parade. But as good as his intentions are, I doubt that his approach would work. That's why I did not sign the recent letter circulated by religious leaders, urging President Bush and the G-8 members to give massive sums to Africa and indiscriminately cancel all debts for the poorest countries.

My view about what needs to be done is more like the approach taken by New York Times columnist David Brooks. Brooks recently visited Africa, accompanying Mike Gerson, one of President Bush's assistants. Here's what Brooks, who is a self-described Jewish agnostic, said about helping Africa fight poverty and AIDS: “If this were about offering people the right incentives,” Brooks writes, “we would have solved this problem. But the AIDS crisis has another element, which can be addressed only by some other language. ... The AIDS crisis is about evil. ... It's about disproportionate suffering. ... It's about these and a dozen other things — trust, fear, weakness, traditions, temptation — none of which can be fully addressed by externals. They can be addressed only by the language of ought, by fixing behavior into some relevant set of transcendent ideals and faiths.” Brooks later went on to write that the Bush Administration's approach “is built upon the assumption that aid works only where there is good governance, and good governance exists only where the local folks originate and believe in the programs.”

Prison Fellowship's ministry members in Africa, and other mission groups I know, all confirm what Brooks says. The hard fact is that African poverty will not be solved through international concerts by celebrities or by pressuring the G-8. Money alone won't work any more than an alcoholic can be cured by giving him money. To dump limitless funds into corrupt governments does nothing more than create more multi-million dollar dictators who stash their funds away in Swiss bank accounts — good for the Swiss bankers, bad for the African people.

The key to the African crises is to find ways to target the aid to the people who need the funds. This is what Christian ministries do best — and what we should all be supporting.

And we should be asking our public officials not simply to open the treasury, but to use funds to encourage freedom, the rule of law, and good government. Otherwise, we'll simply be propping up corrupt regimes that take the food out of the mouths of the poor.

So thank you, Sir Bob and company, for reminding the world of the tremendous problems in Africa. Now maybe you'd like to come and visit some of those mission outposts where you'll see organizations like World Vision that have been doing this for years, quietly getting goods and food to the people who need it most. And yes, maybe you would even like to give them a hand.

________

Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

Aimee Semple McPherson is remembered as a flamboyant female evangelist from the first half of the twentieth century. Surprisingly, she promoted very progressive social programs from her church in Los Angeles, the Angelus Temple, the cornerstone of of the Foursquare Gospel movement.

She ministered to the poor during the depths of the Great Depression. According to biographer Daniel Mark Epstein:

When the schools stopped feeding children free lunches, Aimee

took over the program. When city welfare agencies staggered

under the load of beggars, the women of Angelus Temple sewed

quilts and backed loaves of bread by the thousands. When bread

lines stretched for city blocks . . . Angelus Temple was the only

place ANYONE could get a meal, clothing, and blankets, no

questions asked.

She brushed aside the distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor, and that between legal and illegal residents. One Mexican, the actor Anthony Quinn, who as a teenager acted as a translator for her, told an interviewer, “During the Depression . . . the one human being that never asked you what your nationality was, what you believed in and so forth, was Aimee Semple McPherson. All you had to do was pick up the phone and say, ‘I’m hungry,’ and within an hour there’d be a food basket there for you. . . . She literally kept most of that Mexican community . . . alive.”

In an era when anti-black racism was freely expressed, not least loudly by fundamentalist white Protestants, she persistently tried to make interracial revival a reality at Angelus Temple. She brought a series of black leaders to its pulpit and welcomed into the congregation poor Southern blacks who had recently immigrated to a Los Angeles of increasing racial tensions.

The same week of the Detroit race riots, in June of 1943, McPherson publicly converted the notorious black former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson on the Temple stage, and embraced him as she raised his hand in worship.

It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color. But a cold front from the north had brought winter's chill back to Indiana. I sat with two friends in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways.

I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: "Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square." And so, with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the storefront church, going through his sack. I stopped and looked, feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied, "Just resting."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Oh, I ate something early this morning."

"Would you like to have lunch with me?

"Do you have some work I could do for you?"

"No work," I replied." I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch."

"Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things. I asked some surface questions.

"Where you headed?"

"St. Louis."

"Where you from?"

"Oh, all over; mostly Florida."

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story." Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life.

He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. "Nothing's been the same since", he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to keep talking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads." I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: "What's it like?"

"What?"

"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me. My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things.

Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said, "Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in."

I felt as if we were on holy ground.

"Could you use another Bible?" I asked. He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy and It was also his personal favorite. "I've read through it 14 times,"he said. "I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see." I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

"Where you headed from here?"

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon."

"Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things. "Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages from folks I meet."

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture, in Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you," declared the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope."

"Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you."

"I know," I said, "I love you, too."

"The Lord is good."

"Yes. He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked.

"A long time," he replied.

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, "See you in the New Jerusalem."

"I'll be there!" was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bed roll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, "When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?" "You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."

"God bless."

And that was the last I saw of him. Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them.... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

I remembered his words: "If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?"

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.

"See you in the New Jerusalem," he said.

Yes, Daniel, I know I will....

___________________________________

Judy Waller

Staff Administrative Assistant

Syracuse Research Corp.

6225 Running Ridge Road

North Syracuse, NY 13212

Ph: 315-452-8000

Fax: 315-452-8090

e-mail: jwaller@syrres.com

*

A Fresh look at the Beatitudes of Jesus.

1. Blessed Poverty

2. Blessed Grief

3. Blessed Meekness

4. Blessed Hunger

5. Blessed Mercy

6. Blessed Purity

7. Blessed Warfare

Every church that seeks to serve the Lord should have caring programs established to help people in their own congregation as well as the needy in their community and those in the world.

However, many times the surpluses that a local church requires in order to minister to the needy aren't available. Too often, Christians have been consuming or wasting the surpluses God provides for them, and the load of personal debt prevents many families from giving generously. As a result, there is little available to help others.

Local churches should offer regular, ongoing programs of sharing the biblical principles of managing money in the home and even teaching practical courses related to planning, budgeting, insurance and housing. Once God's people learn God's plan for their finances, the funds will be available to meet any legitimate need.

On the other hand, when church members spend their finances the way our consumer society encourages them to, often there is little left for God's people to use for God's work.

Statistics show that about 20 percent of the average evangelical church members tithe. However, in churches in which a consistent program of teaching God's principles of finances has been established, the percentage of those who tithe is more than 80 percent.

The typical American family spends more than $2,000 a year on interest payments alone. Imagine what could happen if Christians were shown how to become debt-free. From the money they would save on interest, a church of 100 families could have an additional $200,000 a year available for the Lord's work.

DOES BENEVOLENCE REALLY HELP?

Churches that have a system in place to help those who have legitimate financial needs often call this a "benevolence" program. Benevolence is recognized as kindness and generosity, but benevolence should not be a "give-away" program.

Definite biblical guidelines should be established for those who need a church's help. Every member of any local church should be able to look to the fellowship they attend as an extension of God's provision. After all, why shouldn't God's people feel the freedom to share their financial needs just as openly as they would physical or spiritual needs?

Unfortunately, the benevolence program in most churches is pretty inadequate. Often it amounts to no more than a pastor directing a secretary to write somebody a check for food, gas or rent, and usually that is the worst thing to do. Without any controls, accountability or follow-up, giving more money to someone in financial straits is like pouring gasoline on a fire. And such a system certainly doesn't address the needs of those who have long-term requirements due to accidents, illnesses, layoffs or age.

Benevolence is not an event; it is a vital part of ministering within the body of believers. A true benevolence or care ministry actually involves several ministries that have to be coordinated to assure good stewardship of God's provision.

A care or benevolence committee should be made up of church members who will meet and evaluate needs presented within the church. Often this requires emergency action by one or two members to evaluate situations that result from "drop-ins" at the church office or parsonage.

Aside from serving those in need, a well-coordinated care or benevolence committee helps to free the pastor from the pressures of some of the emotional appeals. The most effective benevolence committees have members with varied spiritual gifts and temperaments. "All the members do not have the same function.... We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness" (Romans 12:4-8).

The balance provided by a committee of people with diverse spiritual gifts helps avoid many problems and pitfalls that might arise when desperate and emotional appeals are handled.

COMPASSIONATE PREPARATION

In order to meet the needs of individuals and families in an adequate and timely way, resources must be available in advance. Obvious examples are food and clothing, but don't stop there.

Short-term emergency housing is sometimes required, and the church should develop a network of contacts with businesses that are able to provide part-time or temporary work. This is very important, because often people claim they can't find work but simply don't want to work, unless the job is the finest available.

One of the most effective ways to test a person's spirit of willingness to work is to have the means to help them find a job even though it may not be their idea of a dream job.

Other resources might include the availability of legal or accounting advice and medical or dental care. And every church, regardless of the size of the congregation, should have some members who are well-trained budget counselors who can work with families going through financial difficulties. Accountability is an essential ingredient for any successful benevolence program.

Finally, compassion requires action. No successful benevolence program will be developed until God's people in the local church decide to get involved and make it happen. "Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all" (2 Corinthians 9:13).

*

A friend of the poor is a friend of God.

Proverbs 19:17 tells us that “he who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD.” And in Proverbs 14:31: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” The prophet Jeremiah wrote of good King Josiah, “'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 22:16).

All of us marvel at history's friends of the poor. We look at the life of Francis of Assisi, who left the fortunes of his father's textile industry to live with the poor. There was something right about his life, something we want to emulate.

Author Gordon Aeschliman got to know Bishop Festo Kivengere before his death. When he first met him Festo was a black Anglican priest under the cruel and pathetic dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin. Amin's demonic campaign of terror in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands of orphans and widows in its wake. Amin threatened to kill the priest and many Christians overseas offered to let him into their countries. But Kivengere stayed in Uganda to minister God's mercy to the poor, the widows and the orphans.

After Amin was kicked out, Gordon asked Bishop Kivengere how he managed to live in the middle of such pain and destruction. “Doesn't such poverty overwhelm you?” Kivengere's sweet spirit, forged through his relationship with Christ, shot right back: “No, Gordon, Christ's compassion does not overwhelm us. It sharpens our vision, sensitizes our hearts, and compels us into action.”

A friend of the poor is a friend of God.

Proverbs 19:17 tells us that “he who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD.” And in Proverbs 14:31: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” The prophet Jeremiah wrote of good King Josiah, “'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 22:16).

All of us marvel at history's friends of the poor. We look at the life of Francis of Assisi, who left the fortunes of his father's textile industry to live with the poor. There was something right about his life, something we want to emulate.

Author Gordon Aeschliman got to know Bishop Festo Kivengere before his death. When he first met him Festo was a black Anglican priest under the cruel and pathetic dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin. Amin's demonic campaign of terror in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands of orphans and widows in its wake. Amin threatened to kill the priest and many Christians overseas offered to let him into their countries. But Kivengere stayed in Uganda to minister God's mercy to the poor, the widows and the orphans.

After Amin was kicked out, Gordon asked Bishop Kivengere how he managed to live in the middle of such pain and destruction. “Doesn't such poverty overwhelm you?” Kivengere's sweet spirit, forged through his relationship with Christ, shot right back: “No, Gordon, Christ's compassion does not overwhelm us. It sharpens our vision, sensitizes our hearts, and compels us into action.”