CHAPTER THREE: ARE WE THERE YET? C’MON MAN!

You’ve probably had the experience of picking up a saying or a tune that keeps interrupting your thoughts.  Some people call them “ear worms.”  My latest ear worm is the phrase “C’mon man!” picked up from sports talk TV.  The phrase is intended as a good-natured jibe at something someone says that’s clearly hyperbolic – waaaaay over the top – as in “I could beat Muhammad Ali with one hand!” Appropriate reply: “C’mon man!”  That phrase kept cropping up during my reading of this chapter, and I thought it might be fun to cite a few examples.  I know, I know – it’s a serious topic, but hyperbole of this caliber deserves recognition.  Here are a few examples.

“… middle-to-upper-class North Americans, a group characterized by high rates of divorce, sexual addiction, substance abuse and mental illness.  Nor is the goal to make sure that the materially poor have enough money.” (p. 74)

C’mon man!  Aren’t middle-to-upper-class North Americans also Christians?  Do they really have high rates of sexual addiction?  No doubt there is substance abuse and mental illness, but is it more prevalent in North America than elsewhere?  If things are so bad in North America, maybe we should be focused on fixing the middle-to-upper-class who at least have the advantage of money and role models.  After all, your goal is not to “make sure the materially poor have enough money.”

“Think about it.  If poverty alleviation is about reconciling relationships, then we do not have the power to alleviate poverty in either the materially poor or in ourselves.  It is not something that we can manufacture through better techniques, improved methods, or better planning, for reconciliation is ultimately an act of God.  Poverty alleviation occurs when the power of Christ’s resurrection reconciles our key relationships through the transformation of both individual lives and local, national, and international systems.” (p. 75) 

C’mon man!  If we have to wait for the transformation of national and international systems to impact poverty, we might as well not bother.  Yes, God’s grace is required, and grace is sometimes a product of faith, but faith on a national or international scale is a naïve pipe dream.  At other times, as I have personally experienced, God’s grace is a pure gift to an undeserving sinner.  But I am not aware of any case in which God extended his grace to a large population over a long period of time.  Even the Israelites suffered in the poverty of slavery.

“A Christian relief and development agency attempted to improve crop yields for poor farmers in Bolivia’s Alto Plano.  Although successful at increasing output, the impact on the farmers’ incomes was far less than hoped because of the farmers’ deep reverence for Pachamama, the mother earth goddess who presides over planting and harvesting.” (p. 80)

C’mon man! I’ll paraphrase: “A Christian relief and development agency attempted to improve the incomes of chronically poor people by convincing the state legislature to raise the minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.  Although successful at increasing take-home pay, the impact on incomes was far less than hoped because of the poor’s deep reverence for keeping up a façade of success.”

“Seeking Pachamama’s favor, the farmers purchased llama fetuses, a symbol of life and abundance, to bury in their fields before planting.  I paraphrase: “Seeking self-gratification, the poor used their minimum wage increase to purchase X-Box games and $100 sneakers to impress others.”

“At the time of the harvest, the farmers held a festival to thank Pachamama.  The larger the harvest, the larger the celebration was.  In fact, a large percentage of the farmers’ income was being spent on the fetuses and on the harvest festival, thereby contributing to the farmers’ material poverty.”  More: “Each December, the poor held a festival called Christmas, during which they spent a large percentage of their income on decorations, celebrations, parties and material goods they could not afford, thereby contributing to their material poverty.” C’mon man!  While I admire the authors’ ambition in taking on worldwide poverty, I wonder if they’re spreading themselves thin.  Wouldn’t another valid approach be to solve the problem nearby before extending efforts worldwide?

That’s enough of “C’mon man!” for the moment.  You get the idea.  We need to think carefully when writers offer facile examples to justify their agendas.  That said, there is much in this chapter with which I agree.  The authors acknowledge that anti-poverty efforts can succeed on a material level without a faith-based foundation, but they argue that faith in God is the key element for a durable outcome – one that effects a transformation in the “worldview” of the person and informs their decisions and lifestyle thereafter.  Again, from personal experience, I agree with that conclusion.  Where the authors and I diverge is their insistence on a fundamentalist approach to the spread of the gospel and the Christian lifestyle.

Their example of Alisa Collins, a single mother “trapped” in ghetto life ends on an upbeat note with Alisa finding work with the help of a thoughtful mentor.  According to the story, Alisa “suddenly started finishing her high school degree, working full-time as a kindergarten teacher, and getting up at 4:00 a.m. to wash her family’s clothes before she was due at work.”  And according to the authors, “Alisa’s worldview changed and the system in which she lived changed.” (p. 93) The systemic change they cite was the passage of welfare reform legislation that limited Alisa’s access to ongoing government support.  They claim Alisa’s worldview was changed by a mentor who recognized “natural teaching gifts.”  One wonders if the mentor, like Diogenes, wandered the ghetto in search of “natural teaching gifts,” or if Alisa – running out of welfare income – sought out employment that led her to the mentor.  C’mon man! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Although God may anoint certain people for certain important roles – think of biblical leaders like Moses or historical figures like Joan of Arc or Abraham Lincoln – in general I believe he wants to see us use our free will to make appropriate choices, and it requires effort by the poor to begin the healing process regardless of the obstacles presented by the “system.”  Alisa didn’t feel the need to make the choice to work until she had no other alternative.  That wasn’t the “system’s” fault.  That was Alisa’s free will choice.  How do we encourage better choices by the poor? Is it likely that Alisa, living in a ghetto, had never heard the fundamentalist version of the gospels until she “suddenly” changed?  Maybe the fundamentalist approach isn’t the most effective way to engage everyone.  Perhaps the authors will have some good ideas including a spiritual as well as a fundamentalist tactic, and I can finally get rid of this ear worm.

Peace

 

 

 

Are We There Yet? - Chapter 2 comments

Dear class:

Please be prepared for chapters 3 and 4 next week.  I’m moving the pace up on this for chapters I’m covering because of the substantial amount of “propaganda” (in my opinion) for literalism that is embedded in the materials.  The authors blend a strange militant Christian-only-centric worldview needed for prosperity (Chapter 3) with some good insights about poverty alleviation having to do with using the right tool for the right job (chapter 4), such that while Chapter 3 is a curiosity for a class like ours, Chapter 4 is more instructive.

Some Chapter 3 gems: 

·         “Ultimately, the profound reconciliation of the key relationships that comprise poverty alleviation cannot be done without people accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.”  p. 76

·         “Second, Satan and his legions are at work in the world and have the capacity and desire to damage our relationships.  Even if all humans had the correct worldview [i.e. are Christians as authors define], Satan would still be on the prowl, attacking us and the rest of creation, thereby causing “poverty” in many manifestations.”   p. 83

·         “Third, one of the results of the fall is that the entire creation is cursed, meaning that crops fail and tsunamis happen even when our worldviews are not faulty.”  p. 84

·         “the fall really happened, affecting both Alisa and the systems into which she was born,”  and blaming a person’s poverty on their own mistakes, “ignores the comprehensive impact of the fall on both individuals and systems and blinds us to our need to bring the reality of Christ’s redemption to bear on both.”   p. 87

·         “Too often we drill wells, dispense medicine, and provide food without narrating that Jesus Christ is the Creator and Provider of these material things.”  p. 90

If others have a different view, they can manage it when they lead!  I’m for moving through this book forthwith—there is some good stuff, but in my opinion it's pretty obvious and easy to get to.  And while what's here can be boiled down to a little more than the one word we were going to boil our last book down to, it doesn't merit a lot more attention. J

Peace, Phyllis

When Helping Hurts - Chapter 2: What's the Problem?

WHEN HELPING HURTS

CHAPTER 2: WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

THE POOR SPEAK OUT ON POVERTY



Following their convention, in the Initial Thoughts box beginning this chapter the authors pose the question: What is poverty? They ask for a list of words that come to mind when we think of poverty. Here are mine – vulnerability, exploitation, bad choices, cyclical behavior, character, magical thinking.


In this chapter, the authors challenge us to think about our own perceptions of poverty, and the poor, and introduce their analysis of the core causes of poverty. They discuss some common descriptions of poverty, and note that lack of economic security is often the manifestation of symptoms, rather than the ailment itself. Their main theme begins on page 54 below the heading Poverty: A Biblical Framework. Here, they list four categories of relationship important in everyone’s life – Relationship with God; Relationship with Self; Relationship with Others; and Relationship with the rest of creation. Their theory is that poverty exists because of distortions in these relationships, and that curing those distortions is the key to alleviating the resulting poverty. Thus, the mere delivery of economic aid or food aid, or other forms of relief, albeit well meaning, is ineffective as a strategy for truly helping the poor escape poverty.


Given the statistics from 50 years of our own War on Poverty programs, it’s hard to deny that simply feeding and clothing the poor is not enough to permanently change their lot. In 1962, Michael Harrington published a comprehensive study of poverty in America titled The Other America. The book caused a sensation in the media and played a significant role in the poverty legislation of the ‘60’s and the ensuing War on Poverty. Tellingly, the author cited statistics supporting the proposition that between 16% and 36% of the population were in the “low-income” category, meaning that the bottom 16% fell below the poverty level, roughly the same statistical measure as today’s poor in this country. I don’ t have the figures on total expenditures on anti-poverty programs, but it’s fair to say we have spent hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, on programs intended to end poverty without statistically significant improvement. Undoubtedly, the poor of today are materially better off than their counterparts in the ‘60’s, but relative to the mainstream, they continue to struggle.


In sympathy with our authors in this chapter, here is a quote from The Other America, “……. America is becoming increasingly populated by those who do not belong to anybody or anything. They are no longer participants in an ethnic culture from the old country; they are less and less religious; they do not belong to unions or clubs. They are not seen, and because of that they themselves cannot see. Their horizon has become more and more restricted; they see one another, and that means they see little reason to hope.” (Page 18) Doesn’t that sound like the four relationships described in this chapter? Perhaps Corbett and Fikkert can better foresee the winning formula than our leaders of the past. We shall see.


One significant difference between our book and The Other America is its attempt to embrace worldwide poverty rather than focus only on America. While I agree that Christians should be as concerned about poverty in Africa as they are the problems in America, I will direct my comments only toward American issues as I have little understanding of issues of poverty in other countries. In that spirit, bear with me as I expound on the poverty words the authors asked me to think of at the beginning – vulnerability, exploitation, bad choices, cyclical behavior, character, magical thinking.


The poor are vulnerable because: they lack education; they lack mainstream social skills; they lack confidence. The good news is that all of these weaknesses can be strengthened. We’ve all known folks – indeed some of us are those folks – who came from economically depressed circumstances and moved up the ladder by gaining these strengths. That’s not to pat anyone on the back, or deny the difficulties confronting the poor in their efforts, but it is to say that earnest dedication and hard work are required – often over multiple generations. It seems to me it’s the long term nature of these improvements and the requirement of a dedicated support structure that make them so daunting to the poor.


It also seems to me that blatant exploitation of the poor by the mainstream has become a very small element in the equation (with the notable exception of state lotteries). Instead, the poor seem to eagerly and aggressively exploit and victimize one another. The reasons range from economic to psychological, but the solution resides firmly in the realm of character. Here, Jesus has a lot to teach us.


The poor are notorious for making bad choices, but those may be more of a symptom or manifestation of their vulnerability and lack of character skills than a weakness. After all, when presented with a choice that could lead to bad consequences, one must have both the insight and the character to avoid disaster.


By cyclical behavior I mean adopting a poverty lifestyle that repeats itself from generation to generation – young women who marry or become mothers too young; young men who drop out of school to work – behaviors that make it even more difficult to escape poverty. And, by magical thinking I mean decisions based on hope, no matter how desperate or how unlikely, that further impair their progress (like playing the lottery).


It occurs to me that our efforts to help the poor, especially the War on Poverty, suffer from the same weaknesses as the population they intend to assist. We are not educated in effective ways to help; our assumptions are based on bad choices and magical thinking about their effectiveness; our programs are subject to corruption and exploitation by administrators and recipients, alike; our efforts may be called by different names, but they are all re-cycled from earlier programs.


As we read this book, I hope the authors will lead us along a different path – one with a fresh approach and fewer weaknesses. I’m willing to follow them through their application of the four relationship model. Let’s see where they take us.



Peace.

When Helping Hurts - Chapter One

WHEN HELPING HURTS

PART 1: FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS

CHAPTER 1: WHY DID JESUS COME TO EARTH?

This is my only experience with the authors, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, so I can’t anticipate where they’re going, or whether their presentation of the material will be effective and interesting, or fall short of the mark. In general, I believe the issue of the individual’s role and the Church’s responsibility in the effort to combat poverty deserves high priority. If this book offers intelligent analysis of the many issues and conditions contributing to poverty, it will be a worthwhile experience. On the other hand, if the authors manipulate and misrepresent the issues to advance an agenda, they must be confronted.

The authors begin each chapter with “Initial Thoughts” asking the reader to answer questions germane to the topic of the chapter – and I already feel manipulated.

Why did Jesus come to earth? This is the first question they ask us to answer with one short sentence. Surely, this is one of the most important and complex questions any Christian has to cope with, and, surely, the answer cannot be as simple as one short sentence – unless that sentence supports your agenda.

I have my own beliefs about why Jesus came, but my questioning doesn’t end there. Presumably, God determined the time and place for Jesus. For me, that raises a whole set of “WHY” questions. Why Israel 2000 years ago? Why not France during the plague? Why not America in 1860? Germany in 1939? Why not more than once? Of course, those questions defy answering, but they make me think about the possible reasons for God’s decision to intervene directly and openly in the lives of peasants in Roman occupied territory before widespread literacy, reliable journalism or mass communication. After all, wouldn’t the job of the Church be easier if Jesus had left a bullet-proof historical record of his activities and teaching?

My reasoning on such matters always returns to the concept of free will. God endowed humanity with free will, and wants us to use our free will to make decisions that follow the example of Christ. God could have given us only limited free will, or no free will, and could have been assured that our actions and behaviors would not deviate from the boundaries he set. Instead, he set no built-in boundaries on our range of choices, but gave us moral and ethical standards set out in the Bible and lived out by Jesus.

If that opinion holds sway, it makes sense (in the human concept of “making sense”) that Jesus would appear in a place and time from which historical records are incomplete and contradictory to introduce enough doubt to require the exercise of free will belief, rather than historical certainty that would obviate the need for faith. No one has to have faith that Abraham Lincoln existed, or that he accomplished important things. It takes no free will to believe in Lincoln. In fact, denying the life and accomplishments of Lincoln would be foolish and futile. But for Jesus, each of us must make up our minds about what is true and real. That requires the free will exercise of faith. So, any discussion of why Jesus came to earth should, in my opinion, take into consideration the many other questions all Christians must address by faith.

Okay, so what does this have to do with our chapter for this week? This book was written expressly for a Christian readership. It’s very unlikely that non-Christians will be reading it in any significant numbers. All Christians – even the newly converted – know that we have an obligation to care for the poor. That obligation is well known from scripture, and has been modeled by figures whose names and stories are woven into Christian history and tradition. Instead of using these examples to inspire and encourage us – something that would have been appreciated by even the few non-Christian readers – the authors chose a different approach. They chose to emphasize the language of authority and command.

Beginning at the bottom of page 37 and carrying over to page 38, the authors introduce authoritarian language about “King Jesus” that I find off-putting. Kings are absolute rulers. There is little opportunity for free will in a monarchy. There has never been a historical monarchy ruled with benevolence. Monarchies evolved and continued for a few thousand years to stabilize and control their kingdoms, not to provide their subjects opportunities to make free will decisions and thrive. Continuing onto pages 39 and 40, they focus on God’s commands to the Israelites, and his punishment by “sending” them into exile for failing to follow the law. Are they thinking that by alluding to God as an absolute ruler and recounting the Babylonian exile their readers will be frightened into agreement? Notice that this story is also about free will. The Israelites exercised their free will by not obeying God’s commandments, and their captivity by the Babylonians was the result of those bad choices. To me, it is better characterized as an outcome, or result of their behavior rather than a punishment from God.

The rest of the chapter addresses the problem of superficial devotion characterized by overt piety and adherence to community norms as opposed to actively practicing the tenets of Christianity – another widely known challenge to Christians often referred to as “Walking the walk, not just talking the talk.” Like our duty to help the poor, all Christians have been lectured against superficiality and encouraged to act, hence the slogan “What would Jesus do?”

As you see from this blog post, and those of you who know me from our discussions realize, I read as if I am in an ongoing dialog with the authors, asking questions and raising objections along the way. But I also welcome the opportunity to acknowledge and praise authors who present their material in inspirational ways. As we progress through this book, I hope to find many such opportunities. It must have been difficult to decide how best to open the discussion on the material in this book, and I give them credit for an organized presentation, but, on my scale of “Inspirational to Manipulative” this chapter falls somewhere near the Manipulative zone.

Thank you for your interest, and for reading my thoughts. One of the main objectives of this effort is to provide a platform for the continuation of discussions begun in class, and all such comments are encouraged. This is my first post on this blog, and I know I have a lot to learn. I welcome your comments on the book, especially those that disagree or have observations about matters I have not addressed. I also welcome your comments on my arguments and observations. I’ve been on my faith journey many years, and I’ve learned not to disregard or disrespect the opinions or ideas of others. Even brief comments that look at the material from a different point of view often clear the air or open new channels of communication more effectively than long-winded analysis.

Peace.

Opening Remarks

Welcome to our new blog created to enhance the experience of fellowship and mutual support for members of the Sunday Morning Book Discussion Group at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.

Who we are.

Our group is a mix of parishioners and visitors from all three Sunday morning services. Although life has worked changes on our membership, we have endured faithfully for more than fifteen years.

What we do.

We select, read and discuss books on religion, spirituality, theology and related social issues.

Our book selections.

Group members recommend books, and the group selects which book to read next. Some of our previous selections include works by C.S. Lewis, Robert Farrar Capon, Jonathan Sacks, Donald T. Williams, Joseph Campbell, John Spong and many other notable authors. Some of our topics include The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus as man and God, current trends in American Christianity, classic theology and modern theology.

Our approach to the material.

We are Christian men and women of different backgrounds and experiences who share a common interest in seeking to understand our faith. We purposely select material that is accessable to everyone regardless of where they are in their spiritual development. Everyone contributing to our discussion in group meetings or on this blog is considered a blessing to be appreciated and understood. Often, the most significant observations come from folk whose spiritual growth and familiarity with the issues is in its infancy, but we are also blessed with members who have been seekers a long time and whose insights are remarkable and uplifting. Wherever you may be in your faith journey, you are welcome here. Your participation will be nurtured and you will find it safe to express yourself without judgment or censorship. Nevertheless, we have created this blog partly to promote the continuation of discussions begun in our group meetings, so you should expect to be challenged and questioned as part of a respectful debate.

The work load.

We recognize that our members have busy lives, and we appreciate the luxury of taking our time to digest the authors' works. We adjust our pace to the difficulty or richness of the material, but a good estimate would be about one or two hours of reading per week. Some of our energetic members push ahead of the group to see where the author is going, but most elect to move along at the group's pace. Both approaches are encouraged, but it's nice to know you don't have to miss the discussion because you're behind in your reading. And, if you miss a group meeting, you now have this blog to bring you up to speed!

When and where.

Our group meets for 50 minutes beginning at 10:00 Sunday mornings in the Administrative Office.

For more information, please contact Phyllis Blees at phyllis@austin.rr.com Please join us, in person or on line!

StMichaelsSeeker