“And God said, ‘Let humankind produce unlivable poverty.’ And it was so.  Great shanty towns multiplied on the face of the earth, in gullies and ditches and in every place where man chose to live. A few lived in great affluence while the majority lived in great desperation, selling their daughters into prostitution so that their families could eat or buy drugs. And there was evening and there was morning, the eighth day.”

Of course these words are not in the account of creation. Poverty was utterly absent from creation, and some readers, I am certain, will be very upset at the above rendering in Biblical language suggesting that God created poverty. Maybe even more upset than they are at the physical existence and reality of poverty today in God’s good creation.

Didn’t Jesus say that “the poor you will always have with you?” Isn’t this a statement of resignation to the fact that poverty will always be around, so, oh well, we may as well make the best of things? I’ll treat that question in another blog. Let us agree for now that God did not design creation with poverty in mind. He did not intend for humanity to experience homelessness and starvation. Nor did he create the cosmos with the idea that millions families would barely subsist, living off of the refuse of others, dying by the scores for lack of basic needs, while a few lived in luxury. Poverty was not made for creation, God never intended it. It is an invader on this earth and an abomination to the Creator. If the first paragraph of this blog is ridiculous and sickening to us, so must the existence poverty be to us.

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31

Everything the creation accounts tell us is that God created abundantly, holding nothing back. Besides the oft repeated, “And God saw that it was good,” amplified at the end of creation with the words “very good,” there is the frequent repetition of the expression, “of every kind.” There was a lot of teeming and swarming going on in creation. The variety and fruitfulness of all God had made is striking. So what went wrong? How is it that on such an abundant and fruitful planet we have become impoverished?

The answer to that question is longer than a 500 word blog treatment can begin to address. I will only say that in the Original Great Commission (Gen. 1:28) it appears that God endowed the human race with the ability to “replenish” the earth, or as some translations put it “fill the earth.” We were also commissioned to “subdue” the earth. My understanding of this almost militaristic Hebrew word is that we have been equipped to bring every thing that does not belong in creation under control. Finally we are to “have dominion over” or to govern this good creation. Humans have been given God’s authority to replenish what is diminished, to subdue what is out of order, and govern what is good. We were the only thing in creation made in his image, and with his image comes his authority to rule as co-sovereigns with God, using the wisdom, compassion and creativity passed along to us in our likeness to him. Can we not, then, take up this commission and subdue poverty? More on this later.

 

Who Would You Rather Follow?

I don’t know about you, but it would certainly be a whole lot more exciting to follow Che Guevara into battle for the rights of the poor, than to follow Fred Rogers into the land of Make Believe to chat with Daniel Lion. And there has been a certain corrective underway in our understanding of Jesus, moving his visage more toward the picture of Che and away from the picture of Mr. Rogers. I, myself have voiced that Jesus was more like the revolutionary leader than the docile children’s program host. But I am re-thinking my perspective.

There is certainly something about following Jesus which gets a person in trouble. Jesus was executed by religious and State authorities because he was a threat to those in power. His kingdom operates on principles which place the poor and marginalized in seats of honor. The powerful (religiously powerful, politically powerful or financially powerful) are often on the outside of this “good news to the poor” kingdom. Anyone attempting to bring Jesus' kingdom will get into the same kind of trouble Jesus did from the power-holders who get displaced by the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus promised it would be so. “Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you.” John 15:20 (NLT). The kingdom brought by Jesus will be inherited by the meek, and the power transfer from the strong to the meek will not take place without resistance.

Although Che was rightly disturbed at the treatment of the poor, and dreamed of a world where the marginalized were given voice, he was anything but meek. He was notorious for his disciplinarian tactics, shooting defectors for abandoning his ideals. He was pleased to incite violent revolution to obtain his goals. Mr. Rogers, on the other hand, is most at home sitting on the floor playing Chutes and Ladders with a six year old. And I am pretty sure this is more descriptive of Jesus than shooting defectors. In fact, when his disciples were warring about who would be greatest, he brought a little boy or girl and had the child stand among them. "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." Matthew 18:3-5 (NRSV).

The kind of revolution Jesus is inciting will more likely call me to drop my career in order to care for an invalid than to “take out” a banker, CEO or political leader. Following Jesus, I mean really following him no matter what, is going to “take out” my ego before it will turn me into a hit man.

It is precisely in this downward journey of coming alongside the dispossessed that can be so threatening to those who dispossessed the outcast and the disregarded people of our world. But we don’t forsake upward mobility, fame, money, etc. to be threatening, we do it because Jesus said to even gain entrance into his kingdom we’ve got to become like children. While I chafe at Mr. Rodger’s “here-comes-Trolley” harmlessness and am drawn to the cry “CHARGE!” issued by revolutionaries, the truth is that if the meek are to inherit the earth we’re more likely to be near the center of kingdom power by getting down on the floor with Mr. Rogers than loading our weapons with Che.

Hopscotch anyone?

God is Shuffling Along
He didn’t lift his feet, he slid them, as if skating on the concrete sidewalk.
Maybe he was old, but I couldn’t tell because he looked like a cave man, and it’s hard to read a cave man’s age.
Eyes looked out from sunken pools in his head, down at the ground where he shuffled.
And wild, long hair stuck out from all directions on his head. Some of it was matted.
I don’t know if he had lips. His beard had crept up his cheekbones almost to his eyes and crawled back down his face, past his neck, until it disappeared into his ragged coat.
From behind the wildness he mumbled.
I think he must have been saying, “Someone help me. God is in here somewhere, but no one can’t find him no more ‘cause he’s all crusted over and hid.”

God is Running Scared
Something was chasing him from up in the sky. Demons I guess.
He ran with a look of terror, and I thought in this heat that can’t be healthy because he’s old.
He was panting and sweating and grunting in terror.
He tripped, lost his balance and touched the ground with his hand. He didn’t fall, just stumbled and kept running.
Good thing, because I’ll bet those things in the sky chasing him might have caught up to him.
When he ran past I looked up to see what was terrifying him, trying to run him down so mercilessly.
Just blue skies. ‘Cept maybe those things from his memory. Demons from some war. Vietnam? Korea? Boyhood abuse?
I don’t know. But they had him running scared.He was too scared to talk, but I think he probably would have said, “Someone help me. God’s prints ha’ been swallowed up by all this fright and that terrible thing what happened to me long ago.”

Jesus Likes the Big Mac Value Meal
I once prayed walking to the McDonald’s in Santa Monica, “Jesus, I’d like to have supper with you.”
I stepped up to the counter to order and I saw him.
He was really skinny and ragged, but he did have that long hair, beard and mustache I had always imagined. Though I never imagined the body odor.
He was ordering just a cup of water.
“Would you like something other than water?” I asked.
“Sure.” He said. “I’ll have a Big Mac Value Meal. It’s number one.”
I knew this guy was Jesus because when we sat down to eat together he said right away, “You know, I’m sorta like Jesus. ‘The foxes have holes and the birds have nests but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.”
I smiled.
“I have schizophrenia” he said, which is something I never knew about Jesus.
After dinner we tried to find him help, but it’s hard to help someone like that.
He’s alienated himself from everybody because he gets spooked by people easily.
“You can’t get close enough to see Jesus in me.” He says as he slips away, throwing me a suspicious glance. “He’s hidden here, and I don’t want no one to steal him.”
 
Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you mentally ill and shuffling or scared or hungry, and did not take care of you?' 
Matthew 25:45 (NRSV)  

Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'

Lent for me has become a chance to hunger and thirst for God’s kingdom to come more fully in my life and in the world. I want to hunger for Easter, to hunger for resurrection, and to hunger for the dawning of God’s good-news-to-the-poor kingdom in me and through me. This Lent I want to invite you to join me in 44 days of eating with the poor.

Food is pretty amazing. I love it. It excites all five senses (OK, maybe the hearing sense only when cooking or when you eat with your mouth open). Jesus did a lot of eating in the gospels. In fact food or feasting is pretty central to all of Scripture. Something about it connects with our emotions. Not more than a few waking hours can go by before our bodies and minds turn to the topic of food. Maybe that’s why fasting is such a critical spiritual discipline.

The idea of eating the simple fare of the poor around the world during Lent is an attempt to identify with Christ’s longing for those who are poor. It is a quest to be in touch with the frailty of our own humanity. The hungry poor are mostly distant to me, but they are not distant to Jesus. Eating what the poor eat draws me into a kind of relationship with them ... and with Christ who ushers in a kingdom which favors those at the bottom of the human food chain.

I’ve tried to represent what the poor eat in six different places for the six weeks of Lent. Eat only a couple of meals per day without snacks and eat the same food all week. Pray through your hunger pangs. Ask God to make you hungry for his kingdom come among the poor and ask him to provide for the needs of those who suffer hunger. Celebrate the beauty of spices – don’t overdo it - but use creativity in spicing your food. Remember that even among the poor there is flavor.

You will likely be saving about $5 per day or more on food. Consider giving that $200 savings over the 40 days of Lent to an organization committed to feeding the hungry. If you want to simplify your Lenten experience, choose only to eat simple rice or bean dishes throughout Lent.

Ash Wednesday through Week 1 (February 25 – March 7)
Kolkata, India
Make up a good sized batch of rice and dal (or lentils) for the week. Take whatever you would consider a single serving of vegetables and make it last for four meals. For a treat, have a little fish once or twice this week or perhaps a banana on the side. Be sure and eat with your fingers. Then, check out some stories of hope in Kolkata.

Week 2 (March 8 – March 14)
San Francisco, USA
I plan to eat only what my family leaves on their plates at the end of a meal. Serve at a shelter this week then stop to have a meal with someone you serve. Here’s a recent article on homelessness in San Francisco. And take a look at this video some friends from 2100 productions put together on the poor in SF. If you live in a town with a homeless population, then for one meal eat two items from the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant where the homeless in your town eat.

Week 3 (March 15 – March 21)
Guatemala City, Guatemala
About 50% of kids under 5 in Guatemala are chronically under nourished.  Here’s what the World Food Programme has to say about Guatemala. If you want breakfast, have only some watery oatmeal with ¼ of a sliced banana and a bit of sugar. For lunch or dinner have a half cup of rice or potatoes and plenty of tortillas. Once or twice this week have a little chicken and some broth.

Week 4 (March 22 – March 28)
Nairobi, Kenya
Check out the Kibera slum in Nairobi on www.theplaceswelive.com and read about hunger in Kenya here. This week eat red beans perhaps with some corn or rice or vegetables mixed in.

Week 5 (March 29 – April 4)
Cairo, Egypt
Meals for the poor in Cairo center around filling up on bread (flat round loaves—similar to pitas that you can find in America), and when bread becomes unavailable people get angry (see an article about last year’s riots here).  This week eat bread, fuul (mashed fava beans with oil and salt, similar in taste to Mexican refried beans), a small salad of onion, tomato and cucumber, and tea with lots of sugar.

Week 6 (April 5 – April 11)
Moscow, Russia
For your meals this week use Cream-of-Wheat as a substitute for the Russian staple among the poor – Kasha. Have this with some bread and boiled potatoes. Make a simple broth with carrots, onions and beets. Read about the growing gap between rich and poor in Russia here.

Dear Bopha:

These are tough financial times, and working for $2 per day to help provide for your family is also really helping us here in the west. I thought I should write a quick note of thanks.

First some good news: Gas prices are lower. For a while it was getting scary. I was afraid I would have to sell my SUV! That would have been hard on us (it would have taken days to clean all the stuff out the back). Now that oil prices have gone down, your mom should be able to buy the ½ cup of cooking oil you’ve been doing without for so long. This means she will be able to cook a meal every once in a while for your family. Cheap oil is a great blessing to us all, isn’t it? You can cook, and I can continue driving at 15 miles per gallon.

I know the amount you’ve been getting paid has been dropping like a stone lately. This stupid credit crunch is freezing everyone up from buying things right now. I guess part of the problem is debt. I should know. I have four credit cards maxed to the limit. Plasma TVs are really expensive here – it’s unbelievable how much they want for a 50” screen! Since I didn’t want to put more on my credit cards, I was forced to take out a second mortgage on my home so I could buy the boat. This was unavoidable. Although we can only use it only a few months out of the year here in Wisconsin it was something my family felt we really could not do without. As you look at the attached photo I think you will see why. Isn’t it beautiful?



So anywho, all this borrowing seems to have played a role in freezing money up in a serious way. Therefore, it is all the more important that you keep working twelve hour days for so little. We are all doing what we can. I realize the cost of rice has risen above your ability to pay. But let me tell you, my family and I are standing in solidarity with you. You will be glad to know that I have started buying the cheaper coffee to cut down on our grocery bill. This is sort of funny in a way because I’ve had to stop buying fairly traded stuff. The bright side is that this should help your friends, as I know their employers do not believe in fair trade.

The really scary part is that the money I had invested in emerging markets like Darfur is now only worth half of what it was last year at this time. Believe you me … you are fortunate your family has no savings.

So, I thought I’d write this little note encouraging you to keep working so I can get some good stuff for Christmas this year.

Gratefully,
Your Friend in America

P.S. Sorry to hear about your sister being sold into the brothel, but it’s wonderful that your mom can now get the medicine she needs. Once she starts working again and your dad stops drinking, your situation could really start looking up.

Adjo is 11 years old and tries hard to look sexy in her black mini-skirt and skin-tight blue swimsuit top. She said over a drink in a bar filled with cigarette smoke and drug dealers lurking in the background that she likes foreign customers best. They pay better and treat her better than Togolese men.

"The Ghanaians, the Ibos from Nigeria, the Senegalese and the other foreigners pay 5,000 CFA (US$10) and sometimes with a bit of luck they'll pay 10,000 CFA (US$20) - and despite that they treat us well," Adjo said. "The Togolese maybe give us 1000 or 1500 CFA (US$2 or $3) and then want to rape us violently. They often hurt and insult us," the small girl said, visibly upset as she recalled such unpleasant memories. (from http://cozay.com/ONE-HEART.php)


Good statistics on kids forced into prostitution are difficult to come by. Conservative estimates say that there are a million children in prostitution in Asia alone. And the biggest source of fuel keeping the sex industry humming along is the same kind of fuel that keeps things like terrorism, child labor, gangs and a hundred other social tragedies running: Poverty. If you are a child and living on the streets, there is an unbelievable gravitational pull into the sex industry. It is so, so easy to get drawn into prostitution as a poor child and so, so difficult to get out.

I try to imagine my eleven year old daughter stuck in the place in which Adjo is trapped. Adjo was abandoned. She does not have a Dad who will become outraged for her plight and fight for her. She doesn't have a big brother or sister to advocate for her. She does have a woman she calls "mama," but she's the person bringing Adjo customers (beating her if she doesn't bring in enough money). This life is normal for Adjo, and to rescue her into some other kind of existence will take fighting off her customers, fighting off her "mama," fighting off the desperate poverty she lives in, probably engaging in intense spiritual warfare, and even fighting with Adjo herself who has learned not to trust adults. In a way you could say that Adjo is set apart - insulated from any real help. She is mired in circumstances that will rob her of childhood, enslave her to the passions of those more powerful than her, and destroy any healthy sense of God, self, or community.

What does it take reach into Adjo's set-apart nightmarish existence and bring her into a place of health and hope? It will take someone willing to be set apart themselves. Someone like Jesus willing to leave what is comfortable and become immersed in life with those who live in brothels. Imagine the cost for those of us who live in cocoons of comfort to relocate so that we might have day to day interaction with those trapped in the poverty of prostitution. It would take something like a vow. Such a person would have to endure a certain amount of poverty themselves just to be in that place with Adjo and others day in and day out. It might require an ability to learn languages, discern and engage the spiritual realities surrounding the industry, and build relationships of trust with those who have lost the ability to trust.

Where have we provided the structure and challenge for people to make the kind of vows necessary to enter such desperate realities? We need those who will live a set apart life. We are able to mobilize and train untold numbers of dedicated young people to set themselves apart and risk their lives for war. Can we not call and equip a few who would be willing to set themselves apart to fight for Adjo?