Say Something

Today as we celebrate Easter and proclaim the hope we receive in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are reminded in the resurrection story in Mark’s Gospel that we are not to be silent about God’s love and forgiveness. The women who saw the empty tomb left and “said nothing to nobody” on their way, but we are called to say something. We cannot remain mute. Each of us proclaims the gospel to the world in which we live and to the people with whom we live, work and play.

When I reflect on what that calling means for me, it’s significant that Martin Luther “understood the preaching office to be responsible for both the liberation of consciences and for raising and commenting upon issues of worldly government….” (Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations, 111) This is where I hear the call to speak out for or stand with my neighbor, to help give voice to the voiceless and to unmask injustices from which we’d rather avert our eyes.

As one pastor said, Jesus’ death and resurrection were the ultimate example of civil disobedience because Rome wanted to kill him and keep him dead permanently but he refused. We are called to speak up even when it makes people uncomfortable, even when it creates a scandal, even when it appears radical and goes against popular or well-reasoned sentiment. We are called to proclaim God’s love and forgiveness in spite of a world that tells people they are not loved, they cannot be forgiven and they are condemned by God.

Martin Luther also believed the Gospel is lived when we enter into the “liturgy after the liturgy, a work of the people flowing from worship, service to others continuing after the formal worship service.” (Lindberg, 109) As we enter into this season of new life, as Easter people, living in the hope of the Gospel, what will that look like?

Raising a Cry for Justice (Isaiah 58)

This weekend, more than 750 Christian advocates have gathered in Arlington, Virginia for the tenth anniversary Ecumenical Advocacy Days. EAD2012 unites our voices to cry for justice for the powerless in our society. Rooted in worship at the beginning of each of our days together, we are learning more about how issues like immigration policy, women’s rights, healthcare, peace, Middle East affairs, the environment and foreign aid intersect with the federal budget and discovering how we can contribute unique and distinct voices to the conversation because our positions are grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s been intriguing to begin to dig into the economics of the federal budget and realize how it is a moral blueprint for the United States.  Dr. Gary Dorrien from Union Theological Seminary reminded us, “If people are suffering because of economics and politics, then the church must be involved in economics and politics.” One question that can help guide us is, “What are our priorities, and do the choices we make increase income inequality and poverty or not?”

A generalist by nature, I know about three minutes of information about a lot of different subjects, so it’s been fascinating to realize how we can provide one message that impacts all of these policy areas without becoming subject-area experts. Here is our message:

As people of faith, we urge decision-makers to defend people struggling to live in dignity by funding programs that protect vulnerable populations here and abroad. Enact a faithful budget that serves the common good, provides robust funding for people struggling to overcome poverty, and exercises proper care of the earth.

As one Washington staff person reminded us, we are called to bring our voices together to cry for justice; that is our task. We do not need to get into the weeds on any one issue or attempt to maneuver specific budget lines because that task belongs to someone else. But we must make our voices heard.

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.

Postscript on Money Matters: Occupy Wall Street

I am still watching the Occupy Wall Street movement and wondering what impact it will have and what role public Christian leaders should be taking. 

Reuters offers its analysis (October 7) arguing that although the majority of Americans are looking at our society through rose-colored glasses and do not recognize the growing division between the haves and have nots.

Kate Sprutta Elliott, editor of Gather, blogged on the Women of the ELCA website and speculated about the timeliness of a Debt Jubilee, an idea taken from Leviticus 25.  Here are more thoughts about the faith factor and the Occupy Wall Street Movement from the writers at Sojourners. They offer a one page congregational discussion guide about the movement if you provide your contact information.

On Saturday, thousands rallied in Times Square in New York City while protests continued to spread to other cities. A local favorite here in western NC, Carolina Chocolate Drops' singer Rhiannon Giddens recorded the following song, "The Bottom 99:"

The movement is gaining support although many are still questioning whether it has leaders who will move it beyond noise-making toward solutions. What is the role of our faith communities?  What is our role as individual people of faith?

Money Matters

Stephen Barton suggests that economic matters are integral to Christian practice and living because Christianity transforms or turns upside down our understanding of “what really counts and …how to attain it.” (56) After a survey of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and Acts, Barton describes what he calls a “re-narration” of these values. (ibid)  He writes briefly about the continuity and discontinuity that Christianity brought to the world, noting that there are life-giving practices of sharing resources and households that are patterned after pagan practices but there are also ways of re-ordering things and people so that the patron system was dismantled.(57-59) And he leaves us with the challenge that we are neither to proclaim a theology of glory nor a “Manichean separation of the spiritual and material” but instead

(1) follow the lives of the saints in “[creating ]space …where the value of things and people can be seen and practices in new ways” and become “agents of a different [ordering] of things and people”

and

(2) preserve the juxtaposition of money matters in worship  where, through the bread and wine,  we remember the sacrifices made by Christ and offer our own “self-giving” for the sake of the world.

As we reflect on how we adapt to discontinuous change in our post-modern world, perhaps we can retrieve the examples through our history as the church and use those examples to discover new ways of leading and serving.

Reflecting on Barton and the emphasis on reversals in the gospels provoked my curiosity about the recent development of movements throughout the U.S. that have followed the lead of Occupy Wall Street in New York City.  Here in my own city of Asheville, protesters have begun occupying our own Wall Street and organizing in the nearby Pritchard Park downtown. 

The local newspaper covered the story in today’s edition and I noticed the number of businesses and leaders who are now involved and also the absence of churches or faith communities, at least in the newspaper coverage.  In this recent video of the protests here in Asheville, a chaplain speaks at 13:30 invoking the Spirit and remembering civil rights activists who have gone before this group. 

What do you think about this new movement? Is there a role for churches and faith communities?

Barton, “Money Matters” (p. 37-59) in Longenecker, Bruce and Kelly Liebengood, eds. Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

The Empire Strikes Back

In Christ and Empire, Joerg Rieger, the Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology (SMU), argues for a more comprehensive understanding of how empire shaped first-century life in the Roman Empire.

“Emperors were revered as divine and gave orders to build temples and altars for themselves.” (26) The emperor was credited with healing power and the ability to bring peace and security to the world. (ibid)  The language that Christians associate now with Christ is the same language attributed to Augustus and later emperors then: dikaiosynē (“justice”), eirēnē (“peace”) and kyrios (“lord”). (31)

Explaining that the context of empire was pervasive, he describes the emperor cult as not only political but also economic, cultural and religious and reminds us that the tendency to delineate these different spheres of our lives is a modern phenomenon. (26-27)

Rieger suggests that today we need to be more aware of how empire theology and the top-down “logic of empire” inform our present-day theological understanding and our society.  He commends Paul’s words in Philippians 2:5-11, quoting Antoinette Clark Wire who sees here “the voluntary downward plunge of the divine”: (43)

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
8  he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

Rieger argues that Jesus deliberately and decisively reverses the logic of empire. 

Answering charges that empire is not wholly negative and acknowledging that some people will be unaware of “the pressures produced by empire” and imperceptive of its influence, Rieger asserts that “empire can be problematic even when it is morally correct and benevolent.” (44) By definition, empire builds or increases its own power and benefits its own interests; consequently, there are large groups of people who do not benefit from the work of the empire. This is why it is vital that we understand how broadly empire informs our context and why our Christian witness cannot be apolitical.  (ibid)

Rieger identifies the crucifixion of Jesus as political action, writing “the cross was a well-known political tool for breaking the will of the people.” It was the empire striking back, against the proclamation that urged listeners to not promote themselves on the backs of those less fortunate, but instead “[identify] oneself with those who huddle together on the broken, bottom rungs of the human ladder.” (43) Proclaiming Christ as Lord involves “real transformation of the world in ways that go against the grain of the empire and that the empire cannot envision.” (49)

Want to hear more? In Spring 2011 Rieger addresses Earlham School of Religion in a three-part series on Christ and Empire. You can view it Part 1 here: Joerg Rieger -- Lecture One: "Empire and Economics: The Difference Christianity Makes" on Vimeo. Progressive Christian Center of the South has additional video Q & A featuring John Dominic Crossan and Rieger in dialog about God and Empire.

Empty Bowls

As I think about how to involve congregations in solutions that address the poverty and hunger in our community, I am taking opportunities to participate in different kinds of events and organizations that are helping hungry people in our region.

Tonight was MANNA FoodBank's 10th annual Empty Bowls event in Asheville. Apparently several hundred early birds came out at lunchtime for the traditional midday event, but my daughters and I joined another three hundred folks gathered for dinner at Manna's first evening event.

If you aren't familiar with it, Empty Bowls began more than twenty years ago. Local artists contribute more than 7,000 hours and their pottery to the Asheville event to provide guests with a bowl to take home as a reminder of all the bowls that remain empty throughout the world. Children are invited to help pack rice bags that go into the backpacks distributed to at-risk families for the weekends. 

Asheville's Mountain Xpress article explains how tonight's event kept local flavor in the event, featuring soups by area eateries like Travinia, Roux, Grove Park Inn and Swallow Soup. AB Tech's Baking and Pastry Arts program provided delicious breads and desserts from the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, Mosaic Cafe', Cold Stone Creamery and Deerpark on the Biltmore Estate were the final tastes of the evening. Throughout the night, music from "The Porch Dragons" could be heard from the "Collector's Corner" where additional bowls were for sale.

One of the things I liked about tonight was that families could participate. In addition to including children in packing the MANNA Packs, children as small as first or second grade were there and children had donated some of the bowls that were for sale. Including children reminds us all that hunger and poverty isn't just a problem for adults. 1 in 4 children in our community doesn't have enough to eat and, on average, 58 youth spend the night on the streets every night in our county.

I don't like the statistics, but something else I did like was that tonight's event was local, sponsored by local businesses, supported by local people and the proceeds will benefit individuals and families here in western North Carolina.  While Empty Bowls events happen all over the country and even internationally, ours was uniquely Asheville. The traditional craftsmanship of western North Carolina, local musicians and generous spirit of local activists all contribute to keep it that way.

There are still far too many empty bowls and events like tonight's cannot eradicate hunger and poverty, but somewhere in letting an eleven year old pick out a bowl to take home, pack a dozen bags of rice for a hungry classmate, share a soup supper, crusty bread and too many desserts, that child hears about other kids just like her except that they don't have enough to eat.  Their bowls are empty.  And hopefully then, each of us can be a little more grateful for what we have and be a little more ready to share, to speak and to act.

Four Portraits of Poverty

While many of the Jesus stories in the gospels address the poor, few Christian texts provide information about why poverty existed in early Christian communities.  Reading the Revelation of John, the Letter of James, the Acts of the Apostles and the Shepherd of Hermas, Biblical scholar Steve Friesen examines illustrates four unique explanations for the causes of poverty and four distinct responses.  (Friesen, 18)

Importantly, Friesen reminds us that in the early Roman Empire, “most or all of the recipients of a particular text lived near the level of subsistence.” (Friesen, 21)  It is very easy to forget that texts are written in a particular context and to a particular audience.  As I read a text it’s helpful to recognize how my hearing of a text is shaped by my context and experiences, and to reflect on the meaning of the text in the very different context where it was first received.  

(1) In the apocalyptic literature of the Revelation of John, the writer describes a satanic beast who “ conquers the world, defeats the saints, and is worshiped by the whole world.” (Friesen, 22) Friesen suggests the beast is how the writer “portrays the Roman Empire as Satan’s tool, opposed to the God of Israel, and destined for destruction.” (ibid)  The domination and oppression is absolute in that no one is exempt, able to be a bystander.  The system requires participation by everyone, even, or perhaps especially, the exploited. The writer urges people to flee from the Empire’s domination: “Come out of her, my people so that you do not participate in her sins…” (Rev. 18:4)  (Friesen, 23) The suggested response is not only resistance, but anarchy.

(2) The Letter of James moves the emphasis away from the systems of the Empire and emphasizes individual responsibility.  Friesen suggests the writer follows “the prophetic tradition of Israel: one should trust God completely and act accordingly, keeping one’s life pure and taking care of those who suffer.” (Friesen, 24)  The writer contrasts “society’s system of honor and God’s system of honor” calling people to seek God and not the world, and “[advising] the community to share what resources they have….” (Friesen, 25-26)  Here the response is more like nonviolent direct action by refusing to participate in actions that hurt neighbor. 

(3) The Acts of the Apostles neither addresses economic injustice nor does it criticize the Roman Empire.  In fact, in contrast to our other texts, the author of Acts describes the assemblies as people with more resources and existing above subsistence levels. (Friesen, 30-31)  Here the emphasis is on charity; Friesen writes, “the author presents personal gifts and household hospitality (rather than redistribution)” as the way to address the poverty of the neighbor. (Friesen, 28)  

(4) The Shepherd of Hermas presents a fourth and final portrait of poverty.  Suggesting the poor are dependent on the wealthy for survival, “Hermas portrays charity as an individual act that gives material aid to the poor and help the rich survive the final judgment.” (Friesen, 34)  It ignores the causes of poverty and credits wealth to the blessing of God. (Friesen, 35)

The four portraits contradict one another, lending credence to Scroggs’ argument that the Bible is better understood as a foundational document for Christianity than as an authoritative one.   They also spotlight the ambiguity and complexity that are present in religion.  (Friesen, 36)  What is hopeful about this examination is that we find the freedom to live into the questions and work toward understanding.

Friesen, “Injustice or God’s Will” (p. 17 - 36) in Holman, Susan, ed. Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society.     Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

What Does the Bible Say?

New Testament professor Robin Scroggs argues that identifying the Bible as an authoritative source – one that is decisive about modern social issues – creates obstacles to genuine dialogue.  Instead he suggests that we dismiss the language of “biblical authority” and replace it with an understanding of the Bible as a foundational document for Christianity.  He is careful to affirm that the New Testament is “absolutely indispensable in learning what it means to be Christian.” (Scroggs, 25)  For its critics, the question of authority creates a focus on textual variances, historic inaccuracies, and the conflicting theological positions of the different biblical writers.  Scroggs suggests that an understanding of the Bible as a foundational document would create freedom to move the focus to how the Bible guides us in the ambiguity of life.

While I agree the debate on scriptural authority contributes to a lot of division and strife, I am uncomfortable with Scroggs’ suggestion in the abstract.  I am concerned about what could be lost in translation and hold in tension an interest in defending scriptural integrity without falling into biblical fundamentalism.  However, the reticence vanishes when I take up the question in the context of studying Christian responses to poverty; there, Scroggs’ arguments resonate.  

Scroggs, Robin. 1995. "The Bible as Foundational Document." Interpretation 49, no. 1: 17-30. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed September 17, 2011).

More than a few cans

This fall at Luther Seminary I am engaging in a guided reading and research project that focuses on ancient and contemporary Christian responses to hunger and poverty.  The project is modeled on a course that was offered at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg by David Creech, Ph.D. who is now the Director for Hunger Education with the ELCA World Hunger Program; David tweets @hungerbites and blogs at Hunger Rumblings.  Throughout the semester I’ll be blogging about my reading, my experiences with advocacy organizations and policymakers and my questions.  I will also be developing strategies for engaging congregations in a response to these issues.

Why focus on hunger and poverty?

Volunteering for Meals on Wheels, in a shelter for homeless, at a food bank and at food pantries has helped me understand that poverty, hunger and homelessness are not just headlines.  The faces of people affected by these problems are the faces of my neighbors.  It confounds me that 58 children go to bed homeless every night in my county; that 1 in 4 children in our county schools may miss a meal every day because they are in households that cannot feed them; that children go hungry on school vacations because the school nutrition programs shut down.  And this is what happens in a first-world country with adequate infrastructure, education and economic activity.  

Where to begin?

I’m beginning by reading the 2011 Hunger Report, the 21^st Annual Report on the State of World Hunger which was written and produced by Bread for the World Institute. 

The first myth to bust is that addressing the hunger crisis is simply a matter of providing “enough.” The services that are provided by food banks, food pantries and direct client services are all important, but they will not end hunger.  David Beckmann writes in Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger that “Charitable programs are important to hungry people, but it is impossible to food-bank our way to the end of hunger.”(Beckmann, 11) 

What are the questions we need to ask?

Hearing “It takes more than meals to feed the world.” from ELCA World Hunger, I quickly realize how little I understand about the complexities of the hunger crisis.  The factors that contribute to the global hunger crisis are varied and interwoven:

gender disparity: “Women suffer twice the rate of malnutrition of men.  Nor are children spared: girls are twice as likely to die from malnutrition as boys.” (“Hunger Report”, 13) When an emphasis is placed on improving maternal health and on small householders, the health of the whole family unit improves.

economics: global food prices are impacted by petroleum prices, commodity trading, restrictions on imports and exports (“Hunger Report”, 17-18)

environment: global food security is affected by increases in biofuel production because grains and oils seeds are diverted into production; climate change has created the need for drought-tolerant seeds and seeds that can tolerate high-saline environments but agricultural research that would develop new seeds is chronically underfunded; where does agricultural research end and genetic engineering begin? (“Hunger Report”, 22-23)

partnerships: what misperceptions do westerners have about African countries and their leaders and governments.  “The stereotype of a giant vacuum of leadership in the developing world doesn’t fit with reality.” (“Hunger Report”, 23)

While these are the factors driving the global hunger crisis, it is not difficult to recognize how the same factors are perpetuating hunger here in the United States, too.  And although I have a measure of pessimism about the political process in Washington, D.C., I don’t think their folly absolves me from learning and taking action.