At first it seemed strange to me that after Easter and Pentecost, we go back to Sunday readings about Jesus’ ministry among the poor of his time, but then as I thought about it, the Lectionary readings make sense because if we only focus on the joy of Easter and the surprise of Pentecost, we have lost half the meaning of Jesus’ ministry on earth.
Jesus spoke to people in terms that related to their practical lives, unshrunk cloth and old wineskins in explaining that we need to develop new paradigms for new times. But he just didn’t talk, he went about tending to the real needs of people: healing them and feeding them. The example is clear; that’s what we are supposed to do.
As we hear that inflation is falling, we know that for many even the pre-inflation cost of living was too high. Evictions are up, housing costs are high, agribusiness and large food chains keep food prices high. The income gap is still widening. We need a new paradigm for addressing the needs of people who struggle every day to care for themselves and their families.
Prayer for the Day
Hard pressed to loosen grips on self-preserving rules,
We use our laws to keep our differences defined;
Only changing a few rules here and there, but not the system,
We believe that we have done our best for the poor.
Shake us out of our lethargy and open us to new ways of thinking,
So that we move beyond charity into transforming change.
In the name of the One who transforms lives,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Anyone who has become aware o the injustices caused by the unfair division of wealth must, if he has a heart, listen to the silent or violent protests of the poor. The protests of the poor are the voice of God.
- Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian bishop, from The Desert is Fertile (1909-1999)
True compassion recognizes that a society that creates beggars needs to be totally restructured.
- Anne Braden, American civil rights leader (1924-2006)
Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?
And to break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6