Topic: God things
A week ago I wrote an entry on feeling kind of helpless when I see a homeless person asking for help on street corners. My friend Kim, who I went to college with and is a very wise and intuitive person, wrote a comment which I wanted to share with you. She graciously agreed. The following is her comment. She offers very practical advice about how to handle the street corner situation as well as actually making a difference in the lives of these people if they choose to take a step to getting on their feet.
From Kim:
Your Q: But what can you do for a man with a sign at a busy intersection?
Good to pray for God to work. But, is it a situation that only falls in God's bailiwick? Could Christians take it one step further and dedicate time in their busy lives to pray and think critically about developing a personal approach and doing whatever their part is? Save a miracle, these problems will continue to be here 2 years, 5 years, 10 years from now, with Jesus' return as a caviete. So why not prayerfully plan a meaningful response that includes both faith and works? I am not downgrading the prayer approach blessing our friend on the street- but asking to go farther.
Getting out of guilt and developing a thoughtful approach is more equipping. As a former chaplain on skid row in LA- I have ideas. Read if you are interested, if I go on too long, please forgive. Biblical times, which Christians use as a yardstick in our faith - were both somewhat kinder and somewhat crueler to the disenfranchised than our era. At least in the Old Testament there was thought to leaving grain in the field at harvest for poor people to gather with the dignity of their own effort. There was the Year of Jubilee to help people get out of any financial bind they were in (just 2 examples). But, there were many injustices in biblical times as well.
What we face in our large, anonymous American culture is almost no active thinking, no developed social constructs to support disenfranchised people through family, church or law. No prayer for personal direction that is ongoing and thoughtful. Most families and churches do not want to really think about it OR have these people around- I suspect that is one of the first things that Christ might want to chat with our faith-professing people about. As a result we have eliminated any personal, civic or corporate reality to assist them that ever was in place on this continent. As an example: mental institutions no longer received government funding to care for many of these souls in the 70's, I think. We have lost a personal and corporate sense of community care. I knew a woman who would bum change, with her child at her side, and was making about $60 an hour. AND she was higher than a kite while doing it. And she loved Sundays near the mega-church, as they poured out of the service...
This is our generation's shame. Most have not had the collective will to think hard and long and do anything large and bold. Or small and steady. I don't see guilt as a motivator here, there is plenty of it floating around and it actually does not really help these people. If it did we might have seen plenty of results by now. It does make for good fund-raising for homeless shelters, but it is a demoralizing milieu to further subject these people to. I don't know too many people who, after handing change to the disenfranchised feel good.
You cannot blame the disenfranchised - when I worked with them closely, I found that many of them had a greater faith that had been more tested than my own. Many of them had developed belief systems that they could articulate - not a ruse. They had biological problems, runs of bad luck, cruel addictions, lack of cunning or abusive situations that they were trying to escape. It rains on the just and the unjust- and there by the grace of God we all go. Most of us in America are about 3 months away from financial fragility. A run of bad luck or a triggering event or physical or mental illness. This is what we should think about it when we see them - because we can see a version of ourselves in a harder situation, not because they are so "other". Do onto others....
I have found that having a 2 pronged approach - personal and civic- that I have prayed over and chosen to be worked out in my life is equipping. It is a way to be present and courageous in the face of this horrible situation in our country. Dignity and no guilt. I have prayerfully provided in my daily life a certain budgeted approach that I can afford toward this problem through a local agency. I take active interested in seeing our laws change and urging an increase of grants through government given to independent social service agencies that can contextually address specific community shortfalls. In my neighborhood I make a point to know where the social services are located so that I can direct people there. If they ask for change, I will say that I give my money through this particular organization and how to reach them. I keep literature in my car on the agency. Some don't respond nicely- but I have had some speak a blessing over me because of this. And, I receive it gratefully.
If we pray for direction on what our part is- and yours might look different than mine - then we are liberators. There will be moments when a unique situation requires ingenuity and a spiritual power encounter, but truth be told, most of these are generally the same type of scenarios week after week. The guys peering into your car on many off ramps from the freeways. I actually feel more hopeless when I look at LA women driving Escalades or I see previews of the "Real House Wives of Orange County”. Sorry to go on and on- but there is truly no reason for people to be stuck on this issue. And if you pray to get yourself past it into whatever you are going to do, you will do your part. Knowing you, Christie, you will become more and more liberating. We can all grow as liberators.
***Thank you to Kim for allowing me to post this and thank you for reading it. I urge you to pray and think about what you could do to be a liberator! (SUCH a cool word!)
I was going to post the verse she referred to in James chapter 2, but the entire chapter is about this subject. So if you took the time to read this post, you should really take a few more minutes and read what God's Word says about it.
by crickl
at 6:19 PM PST
Updated: Mon, Feb 12 2007 6:37 PM PST
Post Comment | View Comments (5) | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Mon, Feb 12 2007 6:37 PM PST
Post Comment | View Comments (5) | Permalink | Share This Post
