Lent
March 26, 2019
Scripture Reading: Joshua 5:9-12
While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year. –Joshua 5:10-12
When I worked in human services, I lost count of the number of times people on hearing what I did, telling me I surely did not understand about the worthless lazy poor who lived off the speakers hard-earned tax dollars. I grew weary of it and soon learned they were usually not opened to dialogue. So, I nodded and planned a graceful escape as soon as possible.
What I learned over my career is that people are just people at all income levels and in every stage of life. I worked with people who could make a dollar stretch to meet many needs and others who could earn a dollar and never get home with it–rich people and poor people alike. I have walked unexpectedly and unannounced into poor people’s homes that were spotlessly clean and homes that were so bad I did not want to sit in the chair that was offered. I once visited an adoption applicant to begin their adoption study with a two-week lead appointment to find general chaos
That said, my life mission is largely targeted at assuring that everyone has enough which equals at least a living wage, accessible affordable health care, quality education from birth to career, and a general sense of maintaining self-sufficiency. For many people it is a major transition from poverty to self-sufficiency. It may be like moving from manna to eating the produce of their own productivity. Christ calls all of us to be conduits of self-sufficiency. We do that best when we take the time to get to know our neighbors who live in poverty or in mansions and journey with them out of their wilderness and into self-support and self-sufficiency.
Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I judge people by stereotypes when I really do not know them at all. Help me to learn to love first and assess situation from the eyes of love an growth toward self-sufficiency. Amen.