Yesterday my wife and I were over in one of the richer neighborhoods in Seattle, and poking around for public beach access so she could jump into Lake Washington, as it was a scorcher of a day. We finally found a parking lot down near the water with a little beat up sign that said “Public Beach Access” with an arrow. There was a tiny little path down to a non beach–the trees and foliage grew right up to the water, and there was a rock sticking out into the water, next to a 6 foot high fence with barbed wire. My wife went for a swim. I stood and looked and pondered.
The 6 foot high fence was separating us from a private club of some sort. It had about 150 feet of real sandy beach, with sand that was obviously brought in. (You have to understand that *no* Washington State beach has *real* sand naturally.) There were children’s toys, with slides going into the water. And a long dock extending out into the water, with expensive looking yachts moored there. Etc.
The barbed wire was tilted outward, clearly designed to keep people from moving from our side to the other side, and not vice versa. Read the rest of this news item »
Those of you who keep up with the New York Times know that Paul Krugman is a liberal economist who hasn’t got anything good to say about Bush. My husband, a moderate man, thinks Krugman is so strident that he no longer reads him. I am less moderate and I love Krugman, but sometimes he’s too much even for me.
This week, however, he wrote a column that seemed so true to me. I come from a poor family that rose into middle class. I rose with it but I know some things about growing up poor that people from better circumstances don’t know. This column validates so much that we see around us and that I’ve seen in my own family. I doubt that this topic will get much press exposure, but it is so important.
Read the rest of this news item »
In May 2007, Off the Map interviewer extraordinaire Pam Hogeweide introduced us to 74 year old great-grandmother and street pastor Gail Wells. Gail is the Executive Director of City Gates Ministries in Olympia, Washington, a faith-based organization that helps people on the street with practical needs. You can read the full interview here: How do you strike up a conversation with someone wearing a dog collar?
We wanted to follow-up Pam’s interview by letting our OTM community know that City Gates Ministries now has a website. You can check out their site to learn more about CGM’s programs and services, to sign up for their newsletter, or to meet some of their friends and discover their unique stories. Thanks, Gail and CGM for all you do!
Posted in Homelessness, Poverty | 5 Comments »On Benjamin’s The Dark Side of Christmas thread, Helen posted this comment:
I’ve read two books lately (The Real Mary by Scot McKnight and Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren) in which the authors point out what a strong justice theme is in ‘the Magnificat’ i.e. Mary’s song of rejoicing she sang about being the mother of Jesus…I love that right in the middle of the Christmas passages there’s a poem about addressing global injustice.
I love that too, Helen. I imagine that if Mary were speaking today, she would be accused of being a Marxist and promoting “class warfare”!
“He has taken princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands” (Luke 1:52-53).
And it seems she passed this revolutionary spirit on to her son.
“God blesses those who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is given to you. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied…What sorrows await you who are rich, for you have only your happiness now. What sorrows await you who are satisfied and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger is before you” (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25)
Those passages cause me to feel pretty uncomfortable, considering my placement on the Global Rich List. I believe in a God of mercy and grace, a God who loves everyone equally, including the rich and powerful. And yet I can’t simply ignore this troubling message.
What do these passages mean for those of us who are privileged and prosperous? How should we respond to this prophetic message?
Posted in Justice, Poverty | 5 Comments »This year at Thanksgiving I realized how radically my story about Thanksgiving has changed over the last while. The story about Thanksgiving with which I was raised is more or less summarized in this Chuck Colson commentary from last Thursday. Chuck tells this story about the “pilgrims”:
In April of 1623—three years after the first Pilgrims landed—the transplanted Englishmen and women planted corn and other crops. A good harvest was essential to their survival. But in the weeks following the planting, it became clear that a dry spell was turning into a drought.
Pilgrim father Edward Winslow recorded their distress in his diary. “It pleased God, for our further chastisement,” he wrote, “to send a great drought; insomuch as in six weeks . . . there scarce fell any rain.” The crops began to shrivel up “as though they had been scorched before the fire . . . God,” Winslow wrote, “which hitherto had been our only shield and supporter, now seemed in His anger to arm Himself against us. And who can withstand the fierceness of His wrath?”
Posted in Forgiveness, Nationalism, Poverty, Religion, United States | 6 Comments »
Read the rest of this news item »
Dear Jesus
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007Dear Jesus,
I guess you’ve been deluged with birthday prayers. If you’ve had time to open them all you’ve got to be worried. I am, hence the email. There was some talk of a return visit last time you were here. Got to tell you, now would be good. Now would be excellent. So I would like to invite you, in your capacity of the Prince of Peace, to visit Australia as part of a second world trip this year.
Posted in Forgiveness, Peace, Poverty | 6 Comments »
Read the rest of this news item »
Free Rice
Thursday, November 8th, 2007I recently found this really gnarley little program (H/T Helen and Sharon) on the web called free rice. It’s a vocabulary building program with a justice and comassion twist. It helps you expand your English vocuabulary, and for every word you get right, the people at free rice donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme. It began on October 7 (about a month ago) and has already given 681 million grains of rice! This is totally perfect for me, as I am a very amateur philologist, and I’m totally stoked to see food getting donated to the hungry. Try it out. Today I learned “augur” which means “foretell”
Posted in Poverty | 21 Comments »
No Place to Lay His Head
Monday, August 27th, 2007
Thanks to the good folks at the Wittenburg Door for this iconic poster, created by Peter Cohen in 1990 for the Coalition For The Homeless in New York City.
Mr. Cohen envisions a Jesus who identified with the poor and needy and who, as we are told in Matthew 8:20, had “no place to lay his head.” But according to this article from the National Post, the Rev. Creflo Dollar disagrees.
Posted in News Reports, Poverty | 11 Comments »John Blake, Cox Newspapers — Christians gather around the world each Christmas to sing about “poor baby Jesus” asleep in the manger with no crib for his bed.
But Reverend Creflo Dollar looks inside that manger, and he doesn’t see a poor baby at all.
He sees a baby born into wealth because the kings visiting him gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. He sees a Messiah with so much money that he needed an accountant to track it. He sees a Saviour who wore clothes so expensive that the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for them.
Rev. Dollar sees a rich Jesus. read the full article
You CAN change the world!
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007I get so frustrated, wanting to change the world and feeling so powerless to make any impact on poverty and injustice. One heartening shaft of light in my shadowy gloom is World Vision Child Sponsorship. The world IS a better place for Raha, the little Palestinian girl our family sponsors in the Gaza Strip, Israel. Our sponsorship provides her with food, clothes, medical care and education.
Also, our money contributes to the needs of her entire community – things like provision of fresh, clean water, medical clinics, schools and income generating endeavors which aim ultimately to leave a community self-sufficient.
I, as a World Vision Child Ambassador, would like to give you the opportunity to sponsor a child/children should you wish! Leave a comment in this conversation thread indicating what gender, age and country you would like your child to be, and I’ll take care of connecting you and your sponsored child. (You can also opt not to select gender, age and country.)
It costs $35 a month for a Hope Child, meaning that your child would be from a community affected by AIDS, and $30 for a regular sponsored child – please indicate which you would prefer.
It would be really encouraging for me to have our Justice and Compassion community rally together to make a difference in the world in this way. But don’t feel any pressure! You’re all awesome, whatever your response to my request!!
God bless you all and best regards,
Posted in Poverty | 7 Comments »
Meg Ady
One Vote ‘08
Friday, August 3rd, 20071 Billion people in the world live in extreme poverty on less than US$1/day
The United States has a gross domestic product of US$13.2 Trillion, or $44,000/person, or $120/person/day
Should world poverty be a big issue in the ‘08 U.S. presidential election?
Posted in Politics, Poverty | 18 Comments »
“It’s in our generation’s gift to end the kind of stupid poverty that means a child dies of hunger in a world of plenty”