You Will Always Have The Poor with You…

One of the transitions for me over the past year is dealing with constant presence of the poor. In Abilene people were poor. Annette worked in an elementary school that provided free breakfast and lunch for 95% of its students. A small group of homeless men and women lived in a camp near a railroad bridge. Ministries of various churches focused on the poor, the working poor, the homeless poor, the aged poor, the mentally challenged poor, even the poor from other countries who were settled there. So we did have working knowledge of the poor and ministry to the poor in Abilene.

But...Austin. In Austin the poor are much more among us and in ways that I have not yet learned to deal with. The men and women asking for money at the intersections raise questions in my mind about doing the temporary good versus doing the best thing for them over all. Is it really good to make intersection begging a viable career choice? What circumstances would put me in their shoes? WWJD? I feel confused and vulnerable in their presence.

The people standing in the crowds of day laborers waiting for work make me wish I needed something built or hauled or painted. Every time I ride the bus I find at least one man or woman who is using the bus for self-directed adult daycare. My wife Annette is working at an elementary school where 98% of the students qualify for free meals. Add to this list of the persistent categories of the poor, those whose good jobs have ended and who have been forced to live through their savings toward a day where the impoverished life begins. Always. The poor are with us always.

The rest of that story is that God loves the poor. God loves those who love the poor. The poor in spirit and the poor in stuff are high on his list. We are invited to have a heart for the poor. We are not expected to eliminate the problem of the poor. The poor are always present. We are expected to have a constant ministry of compassionate sharing with the poor. The poor inside the fellowship of the Body of Christ get to stand at the front of the line. The poor, in all the ways they present themselves, are never outside the ministry heart of Jesus or his church.

So a part of the Christian experience is to be troubled by the troubles of the poor; to be moved by the pain and need of the poor; to act in selfless and compassionate ways for the poor; to serve the poor as we would serve Jesus if he were poor, to serve the poor as if Jesus were in our skins making the choices about how to serve the poor. And we will never get through. The fallen nature of our world guarantees a few things and one of them is "you will always have the poor with you."

God bless us all.