Category: quotes and reflections

so what if we started every worship service with something like this…

Father
we come tonight
seeking to be a humble people,
desiring to encounter you in this time,
longing for crumbs falling from your table.

Take from us,
O God,
the cares and distractions of our lives
and let us see you with clear eyes and hearts,
unburdened by our worry and fear.

We praise you for the things,
seen and unseen,
you have done in our lives.

We acknowledge your work and power in our world,
and trust that you are in control of your creation
even when we cannot see your hand.

We confess that our lives too often
are lived in pursuit of our plans and agendas
instead of your kingdom.
For our selfishness,
forgive us.

We confess that our desire for the things of this world
has blinded us to the needs and poverty of others
both far away and in our own neighborhood.
For our apathy,
forgive us.

We confess that too often we choose to promote
our social status and popularity
instead of sharing the Good News of Jesus.
For our silence,
forgive us.

As we enter into your presence tonight,
meet with us,
speak to us,
fill us.

We eagerly await
the coming of the fullness of your kingdom,
and your return at the end of time.

Be with us now as we open our hearts to you.

We present our prayer and praise
in the Holy and Glorious name
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

In the spirit of some of the discussions of the past few days, I remembered an email Lisa Davidson had sent me from one of her professors, Dr. Elisa L. Everts. These are her words, what she terms her “social justice covenant challenge”.

Moral Humility:
I understand that I may have inherited classist ideas through cultural transmission in the same way that I have inherited white privilege, an evil that I am likely to be completely blind to until someone (God or any of His emissaries) shows me what I cannot show myself.

Moral Humility:
I will not assume that I know why another soul is poor, or that I know how they can fix the situation.

Moral Humility:
I will not assume that fiscal irresponsibility, fiscal ignorance, or unwillingness to work hard are the causes of a person’s poverty.

Moral Humility:
I will not recite unquestioningly the American mantra that education and hard work solve all social ills.

Moral Humility:
I will not blame the poor for their poverty anymore than I would blame a person with autism for their incapacity, nor a cancer victim of their terminal disease (Jesus did not).

Moral Humility:
I will acknowledge that my status in society is no evidence that I am more virtuous than my poor brothers and sisters—I will not contend that I work harder or smarter and therefore deserve my relative comfort to their relative desperation and dis-ease.

Identity:
I will not assume that God’s will is for all poor people to become middle class people (which is not the same as saying that it is God’s will for people to be poor).

Identity:
I will not behave as though I believe that poor people are failed versions of non-poor people (as Aristotle thought women were deformed versions of men).

Respect:
I will endeavor to treat poor people with the same dignity and respect that I would afford any dignitary and most especially Christ Himself, who came to earth as a poor and illegitimate Jew and remained so until His resurrection.

Respect:
I will not treat the choices, secrets and private lives of the poor as if they were more legitimately scrutinized by the public eye than I believe are my own (e.g., whether they brought lunch at McDonald’s).

Respect:
I will not criticize the poor for making their needs known. On the contrary, I will criticize myself when needs I should have seen have to be brought to my attention by the needy.

Active Compassion:
I will endeavor to discover who among those God designates “my neighbor” is in need.

Respect:
I will endeavor to discover what that neighbor needs with the maximum secrecy and anonymity that I am able to achieve.

Equity:
I will give sacrificially out of my abundance to the poor in maximum anonymity and in a manner that will protect the face needs and sense of dignity of the receiver.

Equity:
I will endeavor and aspire to match the widow’s mite in my giving to God and others.

Equity:
I will not pretend, like Ananias and Saphira that I am giving more sacrificially than I am.

Relationship:
I will not merely “throw money” at the poor and hope their situation improves. Rather, I will give of my time and my heart as well as my material resources. I will covenant to pray for the poor regularly.

Relationship:
I will develop a close lifetime relationship with at least one needy person or family and will endeavor maintain that relationship with the greatest degree of symmetry and equality between us as I possibly can.

Relationship:
I will commit myself to understanding that the poor have something to give me, which no amount of money could ever buy and strive to earn the right to receive that gift.

I would certainly be interested in hearing your comments on these ideas – they are both challenging and humbing to me, and ring true on many levels.

For anyone who still is under the impression that a) poor people are poor because they choose to be or b) America is immune to the situation, I submit to you this NPR report on Hunger in America. I especially recommend this section which chronicles the story of the Hankins, a family of five in western Virginia that makes around $22,000 a year, with the husband working full time and wife working part time. They are one of 38 million families in America classified by the Department of Agriculture as “food insecure” – people who can’t be certain of having enough money to buy food.

While the text of the story is good, I would encourage you to listen to the voices of the people – real people – who work hard every day, and still have trouble making ends meet.

Here are some of the statistics listed on NPR’s site which come from the USDA report on food insecurity and Second Harvest’s survey of 32,000 families.

Rural U.S. population considered “food insecure”: 7.4 million

Percentage of U.S. adults defined as “food insecure” reporting skipping meals or cutting meal sizes: 6.6 percent

Proportion of all U.S. households with children reporting children often or sometimes don’t get enough food: 4.6 percent

Proportion of people surveyed at America’s Second Harvest emergency food services forced to choose between buying food and paying utility bills: 45 percent

Proportion of people surveyed by America’s Second Harvest forced to choose between buying food and rent or mortgage payments: 36 percent

Proportion of people surveyed by America’s Second Harvest forced to choose between buying food and paying for medicine or medical care: 30 percent

Proportion of households surveyed by America’s Second Harvest reporting at least one family member in poor health: 29 percent

I particularly appreciated Brian’s suggestion this morning that our generosity toward God is at least in some way reflected by our generosity toward others. It is particularly convicting that I will think nothing of purchasing a 3 dollar cup of coffee when there are people in my own city who don’t have enough food to eat. Statistics like this serve as a reminder to me, and hopefully to us all, that poverty is not a problem for someone else to deal with.

I believe Jerrell said it best this morning: “When we say, ‘Poor people choose to be poor,’ what we’re really saying is, ‘It’s your fault that you’re poor, and therefore I don’t have to do anything about it.'” I believe we are called to reach out to the poor, that God often associates himself with the poor and oppressed, and that ultimately using the blessings we have for others returns more to us than we give away.

in thinking about justice and what it means, i was reminded today of this wonderful scene from les miserables between jean valjean and inspector javert. javert has chased valjean across france for twenty years, but through a fortunate turn of events, valjean has been ordered to execute javert for being a spy. after leading him out and away from the camp, this scene transpires:

Jean Valjean thrust the pistol under his arm and fixed on Javert a look which it required no words to interpret: “Javert, it is I.”

Javert replied:

“Take your revenge.”

Jean Valjean drew from his pocket a knife, and opened it.

“A clasp-knife!” exclaimed Javert, “you are right. That suits you better.”

Jean Valjean cut the martingale which Javert had about his neck, then he cut the cords on his wrists, then, stooping down, he cut the cord on his feet; and, straightening himself up, he said to him:

“You are free.”

Javert was not easily astonished. Still, master of himself though he was, he could not repress a start. He remained open-mouthed and motionless.

Jean Valjean continued:

“I do not think that I shall escape from this place. But if, by chance, I do, I live, under the name of Fauchelevent, in the Rue de l’Homme Arme, No. 7.”

Javert snarled like a tiger, which made him half open one corner of his mouth, and he muttered between his teeth:

“Have a care.”

“Go,” said Jean Valjean.

Javert began again:

“Thou saidst Fauchelevent, Rue de l’Homme Arme?”

“Number 7.”

Javert repeated in a low voice:–“Number 7.”

He buttoned up his coat once more, resumed the military stiffness between his shoulders, made a half turn, folded his arms and, supporting his chin on one of his hands, he set out in the direction of the Halles. Jean Valjean followed him with his eyes:

A few minutes later, Javert turned round and shouted to Jean Valjean:

“You annoy me. Kill me, rather.”

Javert himself did not notice that he no longer addressed Jean Valjean as “thou.”

“Be off with you,” said Jean Valjean.

Javert retreated slowly. A moment later he turned the corner of the Rue des Precheurs.

When Javert had disappeared, Jean Valjean fired his pistol in the air.

Then he returned to the barricade and said:

“It is done.”

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile,
The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow’r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike th’inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

– Thomas Gray

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, and I really do have a lot in the queue, but somehow it never seems to quite get out into the open. I’m sitting outside at Starbucks right now in the company of good friends, listening as they play their guitars and sing poingant lyrics, enjoying the coolness of evening before the return of scorching heat. As I listen and as I smile, it reminds me of the beauty of time spent with friends, and how these moments that punctuate our lives – commas of peace in the rush of days – are more than just conveniences. I am reminded of how important it is to take time for lazy evenings on cool nights with friends. Too often we get lost in the frantic pace of daily life, and turn our lives into run-on sentences, instead of reading God’s beautiful poem.

i was randomly watching the west wing today and saw a scene i’d never really taken the time to notice before. it occurs right after President Bartlet has been shot by a group called “West Virginia White Pride”. he’s talking to toby ziegler, a deputy who wants to crack down on extremist groups as a result of the shooting.

TOBY
Mr. President, I was thinking… I was thinking it might…

BARTLET
You want to take a leave of absence.

TOBY
I was thinking I might need some time off, yes sir.

BARTLET
That’s no problem, Toby.

TOBY
Okay.

BARTLET
Not a problem at all.

TOBY
Thank you, sir. [turns to leave]

BARTLET
15 minutes. It’s time to get up off the mat, Toby.

…

Bartlet puts on his glasses and roots around for a file and hands it to Toby.

TOBY
What’s this?

BARTLET
Keyhole satellite photographs. It’s the headquarters for West Virginia White Pride headquarters. It’s a diner outside Blacksburg. Every night for the past 12 weeks, I’ve picked up the phone and called the Attorney General, fully prepared to say two words: “take ’em.” And then I hang up the phone because I know it’ll be better tomorrow and better the day after that. We saw a lynching, Toby. That’s why it feels like this.

TOBY
I’m not sure I’m going to come out of the other side of this.

BARTLET
I’m not sure I can either. But until we are sure, I think we should keep coming into work every day.

it couples with what i’ve posted here before: we get better. it’s a wonderful trait of the human experience that we get better. day after day, we put the struggles of the past behind us. we learn to deal with what has happened, and look forward to what is ahead. we get better.

posted on postsecret this morning:

Dear Julie,

Thank you for sharing your inspiring story.

Like you, I have felt hopeless at times too. During those moments it’s important to remember that there is always someone, a family member, friend, or stranger on a phone line who cares and is willing to listen.

I find it so moving to hear from people like you who look back on the dark and painful times in their lives and are thankful that they did not kill themselves. However, in America, we do not often hear stories like yours. People rarely talk about suicide.

For every homicide committed in the US, two people kill themselves, but you will not see that truth reflected in national newspapers or on the local television news. Suicide is America’s Secret.

Julie, I am sure that your story has not just inspired me. I hope others, like you, will find the help that is waiting and share their stories too.

Be well,
-Frank