A Response to a Reversal...

Hi Steven,

I think you have written an intriguing and challenging essay… one that requires some thought. I have read it a couple of times, and agree with much of what you have said. I also know how you feel about the book thing... I just don't think I have enough to say to fill up a whole book. I really admire people that take the time and effort to pull together something like that.

As for your esaay in particular, I do believe that we all have needs, and I also think that we should look to build relationships with those who are in need of material things, like food, shelter, education, healthcare, etc... not just because they have need, but because our relationships with them can meet many of our own deep needs... those less material needs for community, belonging, friendship, love, and the presence of God. Too often we tend to look down on people, even as we try to help them, which in the end hurts both us and the other.

In the 58th chapter of Isaiah the writer begins by speaking of how the Israelites try to connect with God (worship), expecting God to meet their needs. Unfortunately they are going about it all wrong. Isaiah tells them that the way to connect with God and have their own needs fulfilled (presumably spiritual needs more than material) is not to engage in certain rituals of worship (like fasting) but rather to serve the poor and oppressed. Through these acts of compassion, Isaiah says that the people will have their own spiritual gardens watered.

In Matthew, the 25th chapter, Jesus talks about being present in the poor. He literally indicates that when we help the poor, we are helping him. The early church took this very seriously, creating a great emphasis on hospitality to strangers, the poor, etc… By serving the poor the early church believed that they were coming into contact with Christ himself. This is really just another way of saying that they could feel the grace of God in their lives in a unique way when they served those who were in need. You still hear this all the time from people who work in homeless shelters, food kitchens, etc… Over the last couple of years I have heard from thousands of volunteers on the Mississippi coast who have said that their time serving was much more of a blessing to them than it was to the ones they helped. Of course, the ones being helped would say that they received the blessing.

I think that service to and relationships with the poor is one pathway through which God channels his grace and meets our spiritual and emotional needs. The good news in that we are not faced with an “either/or;” either focus on meeting my needs or focus on meeting someone else’s; but rather we have a “both/ and.” I believe Martin Luther King Jr. had it right when he wrote that "All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality." When I serve those in need, when I share my possessions, my time, and my life with them... we I fight for them, stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves... then both they and I experience God’s grace, meeting each of our needs at various levels. While I serve way too little, and give way to little, I do believe that the times when I am serving and giving are the times I feel closest to the mind of Christ and to God. Peace, Chris B