He is not given a hearing

Ecclesiasticus 13:22 If the rich person slips, many come to the rescue; he speaks unseemly words, but they justify him. If the humble person slips, they even criticize him; he talks sense, but is not given a hearing.

How often do we hold different standards for different groups of people? When the privileged and powerful commit acts of betrayal, corruption or immorality, there is often a wave of sympathy for that person, and their acts are contextualized and balanced by other acts that are viewed as more moral and full of integrity. But when poor people, or other marginalized groups, commit similar acts it is often taken as emblematic of the whole group, and no one comes to their defense. Think "welfare queens" vs. kings of industry who commit fraud. Yes, Bernie Madoff got a very long, well deserved sentence, but that is not true of everyone of his ilk that commits such crimes. And very few receive the kind of vitriolic hatred that has been wreaked upon those at the bottom of the ladder who are actually hurting far fewer people. I don't excuse fraud wherever it shows up, but what happened to mercy and justice extended to the least of these?

Here's another example. When the massacre at Columbine happened, it was taken as a symptom of something going terribly wrong with our youth. But when a 55 year old white man slaughters innocent children, or shoots up the post office, no one wonders what is going wrong with middle aged white men; he is seen as an aberration, someone mentally ill deserving our pity more than our censure. Our political parties are apt to behave this way, also. Adultery is worse when it's committed by someone of the other political party; people call for solutions they are not ready to take themselves when they fall into the same behavior.

What is the point? Jesus told us to forgive, up to 70 times 7 times. The prophets call us to extend mercy and justice to all of those in our society, especially those at the margins. It is easy to get carried away by our emotions, and to have different responses to the same behavior in someone we know, love or feel akin to than to someone who feels "different" from us in some substantial way. Bias grows out of the specificities of our lives; none of us can escape it. But if we are aware of our own context, and how it may color our reactions, we can stretch ourselves to see beyond our biases, and extend the same understanding and justice to those unlike ourselves, as we do to those who feel familiar. Bias is not the problem, but our lack of awareness of our bias which can than trip us up without our knowing it. Like a bunch of white men who are convinced of their own objectivity interviewing a Latina supreme court nominee about her supposed "racism."

Prayer: Dear God, I know that I am host to many biases and wrong judgments about others. Let me see others with Your eyes, eyes that can hold people to account for their actions, and yet extend mercy to those who see the nature of their own wrongdoing. Amen.

Exploiting the Unfortunate

Job 24:3 They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate

I had supper the other day with a friend who is housing an Iranian woman who is applying for asylum in the United States. This woman joined us, and she was gracious and intelligent, serious and eager to learn. After only about 9 months here she spoke English better than I speak any foreign language, even after years of study, and was unafraid to ask when she didn't understand a word or a question. She is working as a nanny for a family with 3 boys under 4, and my friend had offered her a bedroom for the week-ends so she could gain some power in her work situation, by having some place else to go. My friend spoke with passion about her embarrassment for her country in how this woman had been exploited at every turn. I don't know the details of her situation, but clearly something terrible had required her to abandon everything, including grown children, to seek safety on our shores.

What is it that makes people feel they can take advantage of people who are in vulnerable positions, rather than feeling called to support and protect them? I know women who are normally fair-minded and yet expect their child's caretaker to work endlessly, be ever at their beck and call, foregoing time off to serve their needs. I remember a friend whose nanny couldn't show up one day because her own child was sick, which meant my friend had to scramble to deal with her own work situation. She actually, honestly asked me if she shouldn't fire this woman because she hadn't shown up for work. Yet, she would have been incensed if someone from her job had suggested that she be fired for missing work because of an ill child! Perhaps it's just easier to see when we ourselves are being exploited, and it's not so clear when those who are more vulnerable than we are are being exploited through our own actions.

I've focused on women in my examples, but I know there are equally many examples in men's lives. The point is that scripture is clear that we are to protect the vulnerable, take care of the "widows and orphans" as the prophets say, which stands in for all the vulnerable people in a society. I know that I try to be fair and open in my dealings with others, particularly those who provide various services for me, and it's often a balancing act of feeling that my kindness is being exploited, vs. exploiting the other for whatever their vulnerabilities may be. Can I examine all my dealings with others and be sure that I am not exploiting anyone? Maybe not, but I can ask God to help me live out the intentions of my faith, which is to deal with everyone in a respectful, fair-minded way.

Prayer: Dear God, I pray for those who may be exploited as a result of my actions, and ask your forgiveness. Moreover, I pray for Your Spirit to guide me, to open my eyes to the ways I exploit others and lead me in alternate paths, so that everyone I touch can feel the warmth of Your Love and Care. Amen.

A peaceful neighborhood

Isaiah 32:17-18 And where there’s right, there’ll be peace and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust. My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood—in safe houses, in quiet gardens.

There are few less peaceful neighborhoods than in the Palestinian villages and Israeli settlements of the West Bank. I recently saw a documentary called Encounter Point that follows the work of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost family members in the conflict; out of their shared grief, they have begun not only talking to each other, but also working in their own communities to change the conversation about the conflict. They try to convey the futility of the current situation, where violence begets more violence, and argue for at least a change of tactics to a nonviolent approach. Both sides run up against suspicion and dehumanization of the other in their own communities, fully justified by the opposing sides historic acts. It is a tough sell. Yet here, in these verses of Isaiah, is what seems to be the best argument: you cannot build security on oppression and injustice, and peace is the only path to peace, as violence only engenders more violence. Each of these participants could be poster children for the violent movements in their communities, but they choose instead to put aside revenge, create their own meaning for their loss and engage in the difficult path of nonviolence, hoping to spare other families, even those on the other side, the painful loss they live with every day. This is true courage, and even though few, if any, of them are ”Christian” it seems to me that they are living Christ’s message nonetheless.

Prayer: Dear God, You have given me an example of fortitude and courage in the lives of these men and women who suffer every day from the effects of violence and historic hatred. Give me the same courage to stand up for justice not just with those who agree with me, but also with those who may challenge my views, that I may be an effective witness to the world’s suffering. Amen.

A towering, badly built wall

Isaiah 30:12-13 Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this: “Because you scorn this Message, preferring to live by injustice and shape your lives on lies, this perverse way of life will be like a towering, badly built wall that slowly, slowly tilts and shifts and then one day, without warning, collapses—

The prophets of old tell us over and over that a society built on injustice cannot survive. It has always made sense to me that I am concretely better off in a society where poor people have enough to eat and a place to live, where their children can get a good education, not just because of the ways these problems might “inconvenience” me by having to confront them in my everyday life (like seeing homeless people living on the street), but because the fabric of a society is stronger if its citizens basic needs are met. There are more human resources to deal with crises and natural disasters, there is more human capital for the running of the society and more brain power to address unmet needs and other problems that will continue to exist. We’re not going to get rid of inequality – even Jesus said “the poor will always be with you”, but the level of inequality is increasing steadily. Worldwide, the richest 1% owns 40% of the wealth (Everything Must Change, Brian McLaren). In the United States, the top 1% earn 20.3% of society’s income, a level bested only by the 21.1% in 1928, and we know what happened the next year. Can we stop this trend in that has already led to the greatest inequality in the U.S. since the Gilded Age, an age of robber barons and monopolies (if I have my historical eras correct)?

Interdisciplinary research is starting to look at not just the causes of inequality, but also some of the effects. It is pretty well documented that poverty and racism contribute to the poor health of African Americans, through such effects as high blood pressure, higher rates of illnesses such as diabetes and poorer outcomes with diseases such as cancer. What is surprising and interesting in this new research, which I read about in the Harvard Magazine (July – August, 2008), is that they are finding that even the well off in societies with gross inequalities between rich and poor also affects the health of the rich, giving them shorter lifespans than they might have enjoyed in a society with a lower level of inequality. And of course, there are the other, more political effects, of instability and, in many countries, armed conflict. But it seems to me, a more basic question is, “What kind of country/community do I want to live in?” God intended the Israelites to be a model community for the world, to show other nations how to care for their sick and disadvantaged, their “widows and orphans”. Because of their failure, God calls out judgment upon them. If I am called to the Christian path, I cannot ignore the call to address such egregious inequality not just in my personal life, but at a systemic level. How to do that is something each person must decide, but that God calls us there is undeniable.

Prayer: Dear God, You are opening my heart to the injustices of the world. Open my eyes also to ways to address these injustices, through my personal decision making and my participation in the larger political and economic structures of our society. Give me the courage to be a prophetic voice calling attention to the needs of those at the lower rungs of our socio-economic ladder, and to stand with my brothers and sisters in pain and need against the forces that oppress them. Amen.

Deathly and deadening silence

Isaiah 16:9b – 10 The joyful shouting at harvest is gone. Instead of song and celebration, dead silence. No more boisterous laughter in the orchards, no more hearty work songs in the vineyards. Instead of the bustle and sound of good work in the fields, silence—deathly and deadening silence.

This is god’s judgment on Moab, once arrogant, self-important, insufferable. These are hard passages to read. My heart hurts to think of all the people gone, the laughter silenced and replaced by mourning. I think of the many places in the world where such wholesale slaughter goes on, where people are suffering such terrible losses – due to tsunamis, earthquakes and floods, but also due to human conflict, violence and ethnic “cleansing”. It’s hard to even begin to take in all the human suffering this represents, the particular families and individuals who mourn the loss of family members and friends, of home and country, of health and physical wholeness.

There’s also, though, another, more prophetic word that speaks to me here: this is the fate of all empires, eventually to decline, their place taken by whoever arises next. Pride and arrogance can lead societies, just as it can individuals, into unsustainable relationships with both other cultures and the environment, as Jared Diamond so carefully documents in Collapse. It can take us out over our heads, past the point of no return – too far, as in the commercial about an SUV which can go “anywhere”, till it’s on a raft headed for a waterfall. Will we heed the call to mend our ways, to address the circumstances that threaten us – the growing gap worldwide between rich and poor, our unsustainable exploitation of the environment and natural resources, and the violence which erupts in so many parts of the globe, displacing and destroying whole communities? Or will we remain silent in the face of suffering, as did the false prophets of old?

Prayer: Dear God, It is overwhelming to contemplate the suffering in the world, and to wonder what I, one individual, can do about it. Give me the courage and the vision Mother Theresa talks about when she admonishes us to act anyway, even if our actions cannot change what we see, to love anyway, even if our love cannot be enough. Help me step out in faith, as Abraham did when he left his home to wander, with no vision of his future but God’s word. Amen.