"We really need the wisdom of God to know how to break in to some of the subcultures of affluent countries. In great part, I think many of these brothers and sisters are gong to have to do it themselves because that's the only way they're ever going to experience their own empowerment and God's presence and life within them. The best we can do, perhaps, is to stand there with them and not hold them down, not give them any more negative voices that they've already been given by society. Our evangelization is perhaps to believe in them, support them from the side and at least not give them bad news. That's our poverty; that we can't do more."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p.254)
My church has two primary hands on outreach efforts. Once a month we partner with a church in Camden, NJ, one of the poorest and often winner of the most violent cities in the country. We help that church provide bagged food for residents in the surrounding neighborhood.
While the food is certainly important, what I really believe is the grace filled aspect is when we engage these folks in conversation and treat them with dignity and respect. There is no judgement, no blaming them. No telling them about pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.
There are much larger systems in place that make it very hard for people to break out of cycles of poverty and violence. We get excited when a few break out, and trumpet them as clear examples of how it can be done. And while I certainly want to celebrate and give thanks for those folks, they are generally the exception not the rule.
The heart of being a person of faith, is not to look down my middle class nose at those who are poor. It is not to breath a sigh of relief that I'm not in that position. It is to see those folks as people also made in the image of God, deserving of my love and respect.
If I'm truly going to be an evangelist, the good news I profess, needs to be lived out in action.
Blessings,
Ed
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