church and the poor ..

while we work to change the mind of society
while we work to change government
on the issue of poverty and homelessness ..
? shouldn't we be, like, looking to do Jesus ?

and Jesus didn't expect anybody else to help the poor .. except us
as in me
he didn't motivate people to social action through the politics of politics

it's my understanding of things-Jesus that it is us, his Body, that should be caring for these people
we should be
us

and when we fail at that
we fail at Jesus
we can't pass it off on others
it's our responsibility
¿ how come we allow others to outdo us in this merciful gracious caring demonstration of humanity at its best
exposing the imago dei .. ?
..

there's a place for soliciting the powers-that-be, and some of us need to be involved in that
but the major effort should be on the ground where we pull together and pool our resources to meet the needs of these ' the least of these ' as part of our commitment to the kingdom of God
the kingdom that's spelled ' beatitude ' , as in Matthew 5-7
the kingdom that colours life in this world with a different brush-stroke, different pallette

growing-up in fundamentalist evangelicalism, the ' social gospel ' was a no-no
we were to be concerned with the spiritual condition of our neighbour, and leave the physical and environmental conditions to others
ours was to convert the spirit, feed the soul

except ... Jesus' worldview was decidedly different
it attacked the inequities
shouldered the burdens of the poor and unfortunate
attended to the ill
fed the hungry ..
alongside his teaching and preaching the ' kingdom of heaven ', the ' kingdom of God ' ..
in fact, methinks the two are wisely, intricately interlaced

obviously i've adjusted my theothink
it is not only difficult to preach the kingdom to a hungry person, it almost flies in the face of humanity
and Jesus was everything the human
he was the real deal, the embodiment of the intention of creator God ..
he was creator God
       ( bang your head around that for a few; it'll rattle your soul for sure )
. . .    ....

so then
? why aren't we doing all we can ?
all we can do
pulling all the stops
getting together in the name of Jesus to help the hurting ..

? why ?
answer: we're not reflecting Jesus
not being the fragrance of Jesus
not doing Jesus, who said
' a person has no greater love than to lay down his life for a friend '
and ' to find life you have to give it up, lose it '
and ' the second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself '
and ' how can you say you love me yet not do what I say '
and ' don't worry about your stuff; put the kingdom first and that stuff will come, God  will take care of you '
.. stuff like that

at the end of the day i need to be reflecting and effusing Jesus through my life
and that, to me, anyway, means i give it up for others
especially ' the least of these '

it's not that i live to lighten the burden of people through social action
it's that i live to find the imago dei in the eyes of each
and to allow them to see the same in me
that way, we see Jesus in each other
and maybe, just maybe, they will give their life to Jesus
doing the same to their neighbour
isn't that what it's all about after all ?

and that defines ' c h u r c h '
the purposeful association of Jesus' followers to shine-out the kingdom at ground-level, here in my neighbourhood
seems to me that enlisting the government in that is a much narrowed view of kingdom
and a misleading one to boot ..

we
as in us
me
we need to be doing it now, here, today
tomorrow is for someone else, not me anymore
'sides, noone knows what tomorrow will bring forth
or whether their soul will be required of them tonight
and then, what will become of these, our little empires ?

the harvest is full-blown, perhaps moreso now than ever
the labourers few
pray and do

.. in that regard
why is it so damned difficult for the various manifestations of the Body of Christ to join hands in a circle around the hurting, the poor, the parentless, the houseless, the needy
and pool our resources in our own neighbourhood to lighten their load, sharing the burden
sharing their burden ?
why ?
why ??
why ???

i fear we're playing politics
   whether social politics or religious politics
i fear we fear committing ourselves
i fear we fear losing our buildings, our well-earned place in the society to which we minister
i fear we fear losing the support of whatever's left of the middle class and the wealthy who support us financially, thereby bowing to the ' love of money '
losing our own little empires
i fear
   we are afraid

might i suggest the man i ( we ? ) follow
had nowhere to lay his head
shucked corn in the field when he was hungry
lived off the kindness of his friends ..

who made us any better than he ?

a disciple is not greater than their master
but they can be like their master
.. go
and do like-wise