Reflection on Psalm 9

There are several of us trying to be accountable for reading through the Psalms. We follow kairos (God's time) not kronos (time as we know it) so our pace is unpredictable. (so don't expect Psalm 10's reflection next Sunday!) I wrote this to share with the reading group and decided to share more widely.

God's a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. (Psalm 9:9 The Message)

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. (Psalm 9:18 NRS)

Coming off two weeks immersed in some of the urban ministries of Chicago, these are the verses from Psalm 9 that jumped out to me.

Verse 9 does not say that God will provide a sanctuary but that God, God's own self and being, are our sanctuary. We find refuge and strength in being with God. The First United Methodist Church, also called the Chicago Temple, sits across City Plaza from City Hall and the mayor's office downtown but they keep their sanctuary open 24 hours, 7 days a week, year-round. Homeless people come in off the street, rest, pray, sleep, carrying their belongings. At 2 p.m. six days a week, other people join a free public tour of the building which stretches 400 feet above the city sidewalk. On Wednesday mornings, the church offers communion to commuters extending an invitation to an open table to whosoever chooses to eat. They are opening their space and offering a place for their neighbors to find sanctuary, to find God.

Verse 18 assures us that God remembers the needy and the poor - those who are all too often forgotten or called forgettable by culture and pop media in the brokenness of our world. It was really amazing to overlay maps of Chicago and see where the low-income areas were also the neighborhoods who receive the least funding for their public schools, where the train stations are stretched out over fifteen blocks or more and where there are fewer grocery stores, where public housing was torn down but new housing wasn't created, where children are dying from violence on the streets and the graduation rates plummet. Forget college; in the Bronzeville, Austin, or Englewood neighborhoods, even finishing high school becomes an accomplishment. However, what keeps people moving forward is the joy and hope that lies in God and in knowing that they have an identity as God's children that surpasses any label the world would stick on them. Their hope does not perish.

Missing

What don’t I do if I have to ride the bus from here to the train and catch another bus on the other end? Do I skip the early worship or sacrifice a good night’s sleep? Do I go places that mean another transfer, another route, another line or another walk? What do I miss when I’ve already spent fifteen hours on buses and trains and just want to sit and be still for a day. Maybe the groceries wait until tomorrow or we never get to the library. If I make it to the market, it’ll be the one closest to me, even if that means I can’t buy as much. But even if the prices are okay, what don’t I buy when I have to carry my bags? When the backs of my legs ache and my fingers cramp from trekking through the cold?

And what do I miss when I adopt the vacant look and stare out the window or bury my nose in my book instead of smiling and saying hello or talking to the person behind me in line? Smiles break open our masks of anonymity and of otherness. “Hello.” “Good morning.” “Thank you.” What does it cost me? If you were going to rob me, it would have happened already. Instead you pull the line for the stop ahead and help me find my way. You laugh with me as we begin a new day. At night, on the way home, we’re quieter, more weary and maybe more wary because the darkness envelops us as night falls and we’re still not home. 

And even when I get home, when I am a mama or a daddy, what do I miss? Excited stories about the school day or playground, anguished teenage narratives and dinner table conversations because we’re sapped from bobbing and weaving through the city streets. 

Part of my reflections of a two-week experience living in Chicago's Hyde Park, studying urban pastoral education and riding Chicago Transit everywhere.

For the least of these

As the semester finishes, I am reflecting on hunger and poverty in the context of human rights as well as from a perspective of how to lead congregations in our response. Returning to the lessons of Scripture reinforces my understanding of how God calls us to respond and reminds me how our response is grounded in our identity as the Body of Christ.

Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25:31-46 are two principal texts that teach us how God calls us to respond to our neighbor.

Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Matthew 25:40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'

The gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus each emphasize different aspects of what our lives in Christ look like. The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as Messiah, both for the Jews and all nations, offering an invitation to everyone to join in the blessings of the Kingdom.[i] There is no one and no place that is excluded from God. In the Gospel of Mark we are “called to be part of the unfinished, ongoing story of Christ’s mission on earth.” [ii] Mark describes our role as disciples open to joining in the boundary-breaking work of Jesus Christ. [iii] Luke gives particular attention to the marginalized in society. In this Gospel, it is clear that “all who experience misery are, in some very real sense, poor.” [iv] The theme of Jubilee, or “the re-creation of a just society” is a central one for Luke.[v] In the Old Testament tradition of Jubilee, debts were forgiven and slaves were set free. But it was good news for all involved because it freed the debt-holders as well to prepare for the kingdom of God. And finally, in the Fourth Gospel, John emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, “[making] our witness for Christ and the kingdom of justice and peace on earth bold enough to confront and rattle the powers that be.”[vi]

Philippians 2:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 12 remind us of our identity and unity in Christ while James 2:15-17 and Micah 6:8 share a vision for what our service looks like. Direct service is a way that many of us participate already, whether it is in donating to area food banks, cooking soup kitchen meals or volunteering at emergency shelters. The Micah text particularly convicts us that we enter into service with a humble spirit and endeavor to complete these tasks with the same deep love that we might have for our own mother, father, spouse or child. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, we are encouraged to stand with others and not alone. We can raise our voices and be heard on behalf of the world’s hungry and poor and we can find strength in numbers. Finally, Ephesians 6:10-20 identifies our calling to struggle against “powers and principalities.” “By [our] peaceful existence in the world, the church community stands as a challenge to the power of evil.” [vii] We are called to be Christ’s Body in the world every day.

---

                [i] Nissen, Johannes. New Testament and Mission: Historical and Hermeneutical Perspectives. 4^th ed. (Frankfurt: Lang, 1996). 135.

                [ii] Nissen, 44.

                [iii] Nissen, 39.

                [iv] Nissen, 51.

                [v] Nissen, 52.

                [vi] Nissen, 79.

                [vii] Nissen,135.

No Rising Tide?

In No Rising Tide Joerg Rieger challenges the relevance of President John F. Kennedy’s well-known statement that “A rising tide lifts all boats.” (1)  As the Occupy movements have brought to the headlines in recent months, “the gaps between the very wealthy and the rest of the population keep increasing” and “life-and-death struggles are no longer just a matter for the poorest of the poor.” (3) Even New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who Rieger identifies as “a long-time supporter of globalization who [has] great faith in the free market” has said, “We are going to have to learn to live with a lot more uncertainty for a lot longer than our generation has ever experiences.” (2)

Rieger challenges us to evaluate our assumptions about the economy and free markets.  Observing that often we believe “the authority of economics is unquestionable and often even infallible, and in the assumption that the current system is the only one that is viable” he suggests that there are parallels between economics and religion.  He cites theologian and Union Theological Seminary professor Paul Knitter as one who has gone as far as to say that the market is a religion and therefore, should be in conversation with other religions. (6)

What would that discourse look like? What would the questions be? Rieger suggests several: “On which authorities, powers, and energies do we rely? [Are they the right ones?] What is it that gives us ultimate hope, shapes our desires, and provides reasonable levels of stability?” (4)

These questions matter because in this disparate world where we live “power and influence determine who gets to shape the world, who gets recognized, and whose ideas count.”(3)  One example of an explicit theology of economics is pronounced by Michael Novak, an American Enterprise Institute scholar to whom Rieger attributes the idea that “the status quo should not be challenged since this is the way God intends things to be.”(6)  Arguing that often the relationship between economics and theology is more implicit than explicit, Rieger suggests “the principles of mainline economics are mostly taken for granted by religious communities, presupposed as part of the way things are, and virtually never discussed in critical fashion.” (10) Because the principles are embedded, “Hope, even in the midst of the most severe economic crisis, is thus built on the faith that things will eventually get between and that the reign of free-market economics will be reaffirmed.” (7)

Why don’t we talk more about “the alternative approaches to the world of economics”? (11) How can we awaken critical self-reflection of our economic positions, and initiate a movement away from market fundamentalism which promotes adherence without “consideration of changes in context or the real needs and concerns of people?” (14-15) At this point, I am not advocating one position over another; instead what I want to do is to echo Rieger that we have a responsibility to understand more about the world in which we live and the assumptions that are built into the systems and institutions that we live within.

Where were we when people learned to hate…?

Abraham Heschel asks, “Where were we when people learned to hate in the days of starvation?…We have failed to fight for right, for justice, for goodness; as a result we must fight against wrong, against injustice, against evil. (“No Time for Neutrality,” Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, 210)

Twice in the last week, I have listened to people who have endured more hatred and injustice as young children than I expect to experience ever.  I am grateful they speak out, and grieved that we do not seem to learn, to care, to ask why human rights violations persist or to work to stop the violence and hatred.

Charlene Schiff participates in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHHM) Memory Project.  The 82-year old is the only living survivor among the 5,000 Jews in the town of Horochow who were imprisoned by the Nazis in 1939.  She was 9 years old.  Escaping the prison ghetto before the Nazis liquidated the camp, she lived in forests, sleeping during the day and foraging at night under the cover of darkness.  Ms. Schiff lived in these conditions for more than two years.  You can read more of her recollections at the Memory Project website.

Michael Kuany is in his early 30s now.  One of the Lost Boys of Sudan, he escaped his burning village in southern Sudan when he was 6 years old. I didn’t mistype, not 16 (sixteen) but 6(six).  The age when young American boys are throwing footballs, building with legos, fishing and playing video games. Separated from his family, Mr. Kuany joined other children he knew and walked to “safety” in a refugee camp in Ethiopia where he lived for four years.  When war came to Ethiopia, he fled again, forging the Gilo River and trekking hundreds of miles to Kenya where he lived for ten more years in a refugee camp. There he was educated by U.N. aid workers and eventually had an opportunity to come to the United States for additional education.  He now has his undergraduate and master’s degrees and has established a nonprofit, Rebuild Sudan.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Paul Rusesabagina, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide whose story is told in the film “Hotel Rwanda.”  He tells his story in the book No Ordinary Man. Rusesabagina challenges us to live up to the world’s unfulfilled promise of “Never again.” But the reality is that we do allow these atrocities to happen. Again and again. 

My friend and seminary classmate Christine Cowan records her experiences as an Ecumenical Accompanier in Palestine with the World Council of Churches; there she bears witness to the human rights violations that happen every day in an occupied land. 

Why don’t we learn? Why don’t we care? Why don’t we ask why these horrors continue to happen? Why don’t we work to stop the violence?

Do we think it will never happen here? Do we not believe that the people in these far-away countries are God’s children? Or do we just not care? Do we believe their pain doesn’t affect my day, my commute, my family, my livelihood? Do we believe that there is no relationship between their scarcity and my abundance? Their war and our peace?

Where were we when people learned to hate?

We are a nation living with choices

Bishop Ntambo from the Democratic Republic of Congo opened the 2011 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference telling us stories.  While he told his stories with humor and grace, he poignantly illustrated how in the U.S., we have abundance we don’t even recognize because it is so woven into the fabric of our lives.

Sparkling or flat, bottled or tap, filtered or not, flavored or not, with ice or not. Here we can rattle off a half-dozen choices of what kind of water we may want to drink while in Niger “80 percent of child deaths are linked to lack of access to clean water and sanitation.” (2011 Hunger Report, Bread for the World, 19)

Cardiologist, internist, orthopedist, pediatrician, obstetrician, surgeon, oncologist, psychiatrist, dentist…In the U.S., at least the insured have opportunities to choose the doctor whose specialty will best address their needs; Bishop Ntambo related that people in his country may walk 20 – 50 miles to find aspirin and students who complete high school may be doctors because there are so few treatments and so little medicine to learn.

Private, charter, public, preschool, home school, tutors, colleges, universities, community colleges, trade schools, online degree programs, in-state, out-of-state, full-time, part-time, evening, commuter, residential, distance…in the U.S., our children have choices about what kind of education they want to pursue and where they want to study.  In sub-Saharan Africa, only 70 percent of school-age children attend primary school.

And these are the big choices we make every day: food and water, healthcare, education.  Walk down a grocery store aisle and survey the array of cereal boxes, brands of toothpaste or flavors of salad dressings.  Have you read through a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts' menu recently?  Surely we can recognize how we are blessed when we have sixteen choices for even the most trivial items.

God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 reminds us that blessing is both a gift and a responsibility:

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

What blinds us to seeing how we are blessed? 

How are we being called to be a blessing in return?

Are you being called to take action?
This week, senators likely will be voting on State and Foreign Operations budget. Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has argued strongly for a fully-funded foreign aid budget: “At a time when we’re broke at home, it remains important to remain engaged in the world and provide assistance to those who would live in peace with us.”  This is funding for programs that alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries and for programs that fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and chronic hunger - programs that are saving lives today.  If you'd like to know more about how you can become involved, visit Bread for the World.

It’s all in the numbers

In Exodus from Hunger, David Beckmann shares the success stories from seven countries (Brazil, China, Ghana, Mexico, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, UK) who have made strides in reducing hunger, poverty and inequality in the last twenty years.  The stories told by the numbers are brought into even sharper relief when we include the global, and domestic (U.S.), figures.  

Poverty is one of the most significant obstacles to addressing many social issues.  The international poverty line has been defined as living on less than $1 a day. ¹  Mozambique has reduced the percentage of people living in poverty from 70% to 50% (2006), and Ghana has reduced the number of people living in poverty even more dramatically, from 50% to 30%. Despite their success, these numbers are still significantly higher that the global rate of 18% (2004).

Primary School Education is another of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG).  China has made education a priority and 80% of children now finish primary school in China.  While primary school is compulsory here in the U.S., worldwide UNICEF estimated that around 115 million children of primary school age did not attend school.(2005)  This figure is approximately 82% of primary age schoolchildren.²

Infant Mortality measures “the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.”³  Committed to strong social programs, Sri Lanka has one of the lowest rates of childbirth deaths (9.7 per 1000) in the developing world and have expanded assistance for child nutrition triumphed despite civil war and high poverty rates. 

Political Will contributes significantly to a government’s success in finding solutions that address hunger and poverty. Despite a wide disparity in Brazil where the richest 20% owns 61% of wealth (in contrast to 46.4% of the wealth in the U.S.), the country has engaged in “a national solidarity movement” Fome Zero that balances accountability for education and medical care with contributions by its citizens toward eradicating hunger in Brazil. ⁴

Beckmann emphasizes these countries as case studies that demonstrate “healthy societies are more likely to achieve sustained progress against hunger and poverty” and point to the importance of political and government involvement in reducing poverty.  (Beckmann, 59)   

So, as we here in the U.S. approach Election Day 2011 and enter the next twelve months of campaigning and politicking, what goals and commitments will we ask our leaders to make in this arena?

¹ World Resources Institute http://www.wri.org/chart/population-living-less-than-1-per-day-1981-2004 , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

² UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/mdg/education.html , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

³ CIA Factbook, CIA, Washington, D.C. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

⁴ NationMaster  http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_ric_20-economy-income-distribution-richest-20, accessed Nov. 5, 2011 owned by Rapid Intelligence.