I am taking the time to preach on issues this season that seem relevant to the national agenda, to the political process, and to the election in a little over six weeks. Nothing grandious, just a title "What the Bible has to say about . . . war, racism, the social safety net, and, this week, poverty.
My scriptures are from Amos, condemning those who oppress the poor, and Luke 16 where Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, both who die and go to hell and heaven respectively.
$700 B to bail out bankers who screwed up in the face of children in America who will go to bed hungry tonight is obscene! More obscene is the money that the bottom five percent of Americans bring home is more than the majority of the "Third World", although that term is passe.
$700 B. would go a long way to feed the hungry and lift the poor out of poverty. It might fund the entire UN initiative designed to cut poverty in half. It might even cover the other half. It might prompt Jesus to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
$700 B. went down in flames today in the House of Representatives. I really don't know whether to feel sick over the future of my 403(b)-that is the not for profit equivalent of a 401(k) or to rejoice that there is still some backbone in Congress.
The amazing thing is that the people who got lousy mortgages out of this and are either being foreclosed upon or are hanging on by their fingernails are not even the poorest people in this country. There is a whole other layers of victims of the free market economy who don't even get to show up at the table to complain, much less have any chance of a government bailout.
Sunday last, I preached on racism, and I looked a lot at the life of Martin Luther King Jr. to prepare the way. He was organizing the poverty march on Washington when he was martyred for his faith. Lord, how can we pick up the mantle of the mighty whose fallen?
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