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| Goodwill Is Not Enough |
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by Tom Gilbert
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As you continue to progress on the path of
mutual understanding and acceptance, you become an instrument
for social and political change. If you do not succeed in
your community, don't hope for quality, because without that
base of operation you cannot achieve much. People are motivated
to do things, there are plenty of them, but without the capacity
of listening, of understanding, of being compassionate, what
they do cannot help. They can make the situation worse. So,
goodwill is not enough. There must be the capacity of understanding,
of compassion, and of working together in harmony before
you can hope to do something.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
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It’s a Challenge
One of the great challenges facing society is how to deal
with the needs of those who are oppressed. This oppression
takes many forms, but at the heart of it are those who don’t
have enough to eat and the adequate shelter, clothing, employment
and freedom that we like to think (in theory anyway) that
everyone is entitled to.
Once this challenge is tossed out in conversation, or
print, the air often gets chilly. Anyone professing Christianity
would be hard-pressed to contradict the call for “freedom
to the oppressed” that Jesus claimed as part of his
mission, his anointment by God to preach the good news
to the poor. He took the message of Isaiah 61 to heart
and he asks us (commands, really, but maybe I shouldn’t
make you squirm too much just yet) to do the same.
We can get all caught up in politics, the conservative
and liberal agendas, or we can say that it’s not
governments’ responsibility and that the private
sector or individuals should step forward. Regardless of
whom we think is responsible for making things better (delivering
the captives); if we aren’t looking deep within ourselves
and convicting our own conscience then it’s just
wordplay. (Now I’m squirming).
The bottom line is there are the “haves” and
the “have-nots”. Setting aside why that is
for a minute can we admit that God loves both? If this
fundamental truth holds should we then have a viewpoint
that starts with loving both? Ok, easy to love the “haves” – maybe
they’ll buy us dinner or flip us a few bucks and
let us rub shoulders with the other “haves”.
But, what about the beggar at the gate? ()
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See No Evil, Hear No Evil
It’s fairly easy in America
to avoid actually seeing poverty and injustice. Not that
it isn’t there – just that we can insulate
ourselves from it and turn a blind eye and a deaf ear.
Until we identify with an oppressed brother or sister
we probably won’t have the proper empathy to do
something. Some people seem able to do this willingly.
Sadly, they seem few and far between. Many of us won’t
respond unless something really gets in our face.
Helping the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, comforting widows and prisoners are all good
things to do. Doing them out of guilt or obligation
will still help them, but if we do it that way we’re
missing something very important.
The key point is not to just do something to help
those less fortunate, poor or persecuted. It is to
join with them – to change, be transformed through
the power of God in us so that we are united in our
suffering, our joy and our living. Community demands
relational living; it is faith in action.
This does not mean we must become poor, hungry and
oppressed. But if we sacrifice to help those who are
then we are blessed. The Sermon on the Mount says so.
If we can find a way to unite ourselves with others
we can grow richer. A person materially poor can give
a great gift to someone trapped in the bondage of riches.
A person suffering with the deep pangs of hunger can
give new appreciation to “give us this day our
daily bread”. Someone falsely imprisoned can
mitigate our self-righteousness.
According to St. Bonaventure, a poor uneducated person
might know and love God better than a great theologian
or ecclesiastic.
It’s not about doing good, although that should
be the natural result of our new lives. Our efforts
to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the
prisoner, comfort the widow and house the homeless
must be acts of the heart, not deeds of recognition.
Don’t deny reality – your reality.
If we refuse to see the poor we deny real life. If we
refuse to get involved in social issues and take a
stand for what is right we convict ourselves. We become
complicit with the evil. Richard Rohr from Everything
Belongs states, “When we
see the image of God where we don’t want to see
the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own”.
Be peace, do justice, but don’t demand the perfection
on earth. As Mother Theresa would often say, “God
doesn’t call me to be successful, just faithful”.
There are poor and victims of social injustice everywhere.
Many of us privileged enough to live in the “lap
of luxury” - and that’s all relative —
need to open ourselves up to the truth of our own inner
poverty. In the great economy of God all people have
something of value to give and to receive. We have
the free grace that enters into our brokenness, heals
us and shows us how to be wounded healers to our brothers
and sisters. That’s the redemptive power of suffering.
It is the process of transformation.
There are many wonderful causes, organizations and
events you can get involved with that help the needy
and fight oppression. Below are some areas of concern.
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Call to Renewal‘s national anti–poverty mobilization,
Pentecost 2004
This event in
Washington, DC,
is bringing together hundreds of faith–based
organizers, church members, activists and religious leaders
to lift up the cause of poverty as a religious and moral
issue in this election year. It began Sunday afternoon,
May 23, at the Washington Plaza Hotel, Pentecost 2004 and
offers participants a wide variety of opportunities for inspiration,
education, legislative action, networking and more.
The keynote address will be delivered by Bill Moyers,
veteran broadcaster, journalist and commentator. Other
speakers will include Jim Wallis, Convener of Call to Renewal;
The Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr., of Riverside Church, New
York City; The Rt. Rev. John Chane, Episcopal Bishop of
Washington; and many more. The program includes numerous
workshops and plenary sessions, a Congressional Prayer
Breakfast with music by Carrie Newcomer, a forum for Emerging
Leaders age 30 and under, and a Worship Service of Unity
to Overcome Poverty, with music by Performing Artists Under
the Lord (P.A.U.L.), at the Washington National Cathedral.
Full details here
CAFTA
A proposed free trade agreement,
modeled on NAFTA, between the United States and the five
Central American
countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
and Costa Rica. Like other free trade agreements, CAFTA
would benefit corporations and their stockholders, rather
than ensuring the labor rights of people who work for those
corporations. CAFTA would encourage privatization of public
services, thereby increasing the cost of living and the
resulting gap between rich and poor. |
More |
Poverty tour
What does it mean to be poor in America? This multimedia
presentation produced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops puts the abstract numbers into perspective. |
more |
World Vision
This non-profit group helps
fight poverty and disease and reaches out with the Gospel
message in action.
A critical food shortage threatens starvation for millions
of people throughout Africa. World Vision has received
$85 million in grants from the U.S. government to provide
lifesaving food for these families, but we must raise an
additional $6.6 million in support to feed 3.3 million
people. Your gift of just $20 can be multiplied 15 times
to feed three entire families!
| more |
Food for the Poor
is a non-profit working to alleviate
hunger in some of the poorest countries such as Haiti and
Central America. They will often multiply donations/gifts
through their opportunities to buy surplus and bulk. |
more |
Steve Stockman,
author of the just released The Rock Cries
Out, offer his thoughts that touch on many of the issues
facing us and what Christians should be doing (even taking
cues from secular music makers) in an interview I recently
did with him. | more |
Human rights campaigners
are warning about a brutal campaign
of ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese government. Could this
be another Rwanda? (In 1994 there was a slaughter of the
Tutsi minority by the Hutu majority that took the lives
of 800,000 people.) | more |
DATA – debt, AIDS, trade, Africa
Bono, lead singer of U-2 and activist joins with others
to raise awareness and present action steps to deal with
the enormous poverty, disease and oppression of the African
people.
| more |
Co-Op America
Dedicated to promoting
clean energy, halting sweatshop labor, and investing in our
communities.
| more |
JusticeNet
Recently redesigned and relaunched, this site provides
a place for people to discuss issues, post events and
notices, and find links to related resources. | more |
RELEVANT Magazine and The Revolution
Social action ideas for young people – see this
article Bill Moyers interviewing Joe Hough (from 10/24/03) that addresses our obligation to help, not
oppress the needy. | more |
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Scripture
taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved
throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering
of goods or services requires the prior written consent of International
Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All rights
reserved. |
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JAMES 2:14-17
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What good
is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has
no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or
sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you
says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well
fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what
good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is
not accompanied by action, is dead.
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(NIV)
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