If you could see the table to the left of my chair you would see 8 books waiting for me to read. If you could see the basket to the right of my chair you would see another 4. Then there is the book shelf in the office. One shelf is filled with books I haven't read. Oh, and then there is Amazon Kindle, where I have downloaded a plethora of free books! I read a description about a book and I think "Oh, that sounds good" so I order or download the book and then it sits. Now in my defense, I am reading a lot during the day but I am reading Facebook posts and internet articles. So what I need to do is determine to turn off the technology and dedicate a couple of hours a day to just reading the books that are awaiting me. I am confident that God has something He wants to tell me through all the different authors.
Last night I finished a reading a book by Larry James, The Wealth Of The Poor: How Valuing Every Neighbor Restores Hope In Our Cities. I have known Larry for about 14 years. He was the minister of the Richardson East church of Christ prior to my becoming the Children's Minister there. So many of the members spoke of him in such enduring terms and told me stories of how that congregation started CAREcorp which is a food ministry. They told me stories about how the daycare that operated out of our building was the first to accept AIDS babies and had even made national news with Jane Pauley from NBC came and interviewed Larry about that issue. Larry left Richardson East after 14 years to begin Central Dallas Ministries in inner city Dallas. It is now called CitySquare. I had several opportunities during the 10 years I was at Richardson East to visit downtown and hear about the work Larry was doing in the inner city and a few times I was given the opportunity to serve for a few hours. But after reading Larry's book, I wish I had understood more about his vision and the work he was doing. And I wish I had been more involved.
The Wealth Of The Poor lays out Larry's dreams and the work he feels God has called him to do. He isn't about the business of helping the poor, he is in the business of eliminating poverty. He challenged me to see the inequities of our systems that generate poverty. He helped me to see the poor are not projects that need to be fixed. If only more of them would do this or that they wouldn't be in their situation. He caused me to ask myself the question do I truly know anyone who is poor? Am I friends with anyone who is poor? I had to confess "No" to both questions. Do I care about the poor? I thought so, until I read this book and now I have to ask myself that question with new enlightenment, do I really care about the poor?
Larry helped me to see that caring about the poor is not volunteering a few hours at a soup kitchen, or donating a few dollars for a project here and there. Caring about the poor means I go to where they are and I become friends with them. I listen to their stories, I share my stories with them. I ask myself "if I were in their shoes, how would I want to be treated?" The book is riddled with scriptures that show what God's attitude is towards the poor. This is just one of the many "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:33-34
I could go on and on about this book, but then you wouldn't read it yourself. So I will close with just two quotes that spoke to my heart. But trust me, if you want to be transformed in your thinking about the poor and what God is calling us to do, read this book. My spirit was definitely convicted that I need to begin to pray that it won't just be a book with some good ideas, but the Spirit will motivate me to have God's heart for his children that live in poverty and move me to action.
"People who are hungry, 'poor', homeless, ill, abandoned, strangers--the list goes on and on as we think about the possibilities attached to being human--don't need professionalism or service or case management as much as they need to be treated like regular people. After all that is exactly who they are--regular people with specific challenges, just like the rest of us. Most major life problems and challenges are best addressed in the context of genuine friendship."
"Stop talking about being redemptive, bring redemption
Stop talking about salvation, and insert a saving moment into the life of just one struggling person.
Stop preaching the message of reconciliation and become reconcilers.
Stop worrying about your message and live a message that produces hope."
