DB: “There currently are half as many extremely poor people today as was the case 30 years ago. Sustained national efforts make a difference. God has made it possible, in our time, to end extreme poverty, and calls us to involvement.”
And
SB: “If you want to follow Jesus, you will be found on the margins with those who suffer.”
And
DB: “What distresses me is that I don’t think our country is serious about reducing poverty.”
David Beckmann (Bread for the World)
Stephan Bauman (World Relief)
Q, Washington D.C.
April 11, 2012
Nice to right about but more difficult to act on. What is the solution? Take away from those who have more and give to those who have less? How long would it take for an imbalance to occur if everyone were to start with the same resources? How much above the poverty level are you living? Why worry about the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a plank in your own? Of those given much, much will be expected.
Hey Craig: good to hear from you. I’ve been out in your neighborhood this past week: M-Th in DC at a convention. So were you at the Masters with Cousin Jack? Sounds like that was a fun trip.
To your comments: I know there is a controversy in our country between the political left and right about whether or not taxing and social programs are redistribution of wealth. We could debate that until the cows come in without much resolution, so I don’t broach that much with my congregation.
But my heart has really been convicted by 1st Corinthians 11:17-34, and Paul’s anger at disunity in the Corinthian Church. In those days, communion was a sit-down meal, and some left the table hungry, while others became stuffed and drunk. Paul was upset that the meal demonstrated human disunity instead of Christ-like unity. He warned that if they continued to celebrate in that way, they would eat and drink damnation to themselves (because the meal was intended to cement the unity we have in Christ).
I am aware that when I preside at the table (in about sixty minutes or so), that my well-fed congregation (many of whom are dieting) will be around the table with mothers in the horn of Africa who can’t feed their children. Paul’s words challenge me at this point, and so I have pledged to do three things:
1. Advocate within my family, to make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to battle the causes of hunger.
2. Advocate within my congregation, to make sure we are doing the same.
3. Advocate within my country, to make sure we are doing the same.
For me, the issue is not what I can force someone else to do. The issue is what I can do, given the tragic disunity in the body of Christ today, to make a difference. For me, it is a theological dilemma, not a political or social one.
Hope that clarifies my point of view for you. Let me know what you think.
Dave