First - I have a question I would like
to pose: What would it take to feed the whole
world? What would it cost to feed the millions who this very night will
go to bed
hungry? I will get back to that question later. For the moment let's focus
on Mothers. You may all be sitting there with your own thoughts about your
mother. Let me tell you about mine.
Mother knows best. My mother would be shocked to hear me say this.) How
many times have we, as we grew up and as we now grow older, find this to
be true? Mothers through the ages have dispensed homespun wisdom. My mother
frequently spoke of her mother and grandmother's sayings. When a young person
was being particularly difficult, her grandmother said "They all have
to climb fool's hill." My parents married during the Depression. Dad
had a job earning $16 a week and he was lucky to have a job. She told me
that one week their water was turned off because they didn't have the money
to pay the bill until the next payday. As we grew up there was always a
large vegetable garden and by the end of the summer, the cellar shelves
were loaded with canned goods for the winter months. It was a simple life
with lots of work that fell heavily on my mother. It included simple outings
and family gatherings with lots of laughter and fun. Today I want to concentrate
on my mother but Dad was very special too -- he worked in the paper mill
for 42 years missing work only 4 days in all that time, lost a finger to
the paper machine, and had lots of hugs and encouragement for his four children.
What my mother knew -- and maybe your mother knew
-- was a basic truth, which the
world needs to learn: that it is by sharing the wealth, and not by hoarding
the wealth,
the family survives. Our family -- our world family -- very much needs
a mother to make
that point this morning. With hunger a fact of life in this state, in
this country and
around the world, we all need to be concerned. Hunger hurts everyone,
but it
especially hurts our children!
It seems quite clear to me that the Bible tells
us again and again that we have a
responsibility to care for everyone. In Genesis, the story of Moses in
the desert and
God providing Manna to feed the people. They were told there was enough
for all and
to take what they need and no more. In the verses from Amos today. People
were
told to "let justice roll down like water and righteousness like
an everflowing stream."
Again and again in the Old Testament, prophets admonished people to turn
from their
overabundance and to take care of the poor among them. Then in the message
from
John after Jesus had reappeared to the disciples Jesus told Peter not
once but three
times "Feed my Sheep." That message Jesus repeated many times
- Give all your
money to the poor and follow me -- he told the rich man who wished to
inherit eternal
life. The beatitudes repeat the theme. Who should we help? Perhaps the
Good
Samaritan story gives us a clue with the question: who is my neighbor?
Think about it, even the outcasts of our world are our neighbors. The
message comes across loud and clear. My mother knew it -- she would say
"A rising tide lifts all boats."
It has been a year since I started a job that God
seemed to be leading me to - The
Economic Justice Program Director with the Maine Council of Churches.
This year I
have met and talked to lots of people living in poverty. I want to tell
you what I have
learned -- and it's not so different from the lesson my mother learned,
and it's not so
different from the lesson Jesus taught.
During this year I have come to realize that I
have a great advantage because I grew
up safe, loved, fed and nurtured. I have learned this year that many people
living in
poverty did not have the advantage I had. I have heard stories of abuse
both sexual
and physical, sometimes occurring as early as the age of 3. I heard of
a girl being on
the street with her brother. She was 8 years old. The two broke into a
store every
night, slept and ate there. One night they were caught by the police and
that eight
year old girl was handled very roughly -- if you have an eight year old
child or
grandchild, try to imagine how frightened she must have been. It makes
me weep.
This same girl was held in a house at age 11 where men would come and
abuse her.
When she went to the police station with one of the men who had been shot,
no one
interfered and took her side even though it was obvious that she was a
child. Again
and again she was victimized; no one helped. With that kind of background
and story, is it any wonder, that as a grown woman she has deep emotional
problems, is unable to work, sometimes spends days just sitting as her
past haunts her.
Our church serves lunch once a month at the Preble
Street Resource Center in
Portland. In that same building there is a lounge upstairs where I was
privileged to
visit during the week. I heard a story of one woman who had severe dental
problems. The social worker told her that if she had her teeth pulled
out, Medicaid
would pay for that and for false teeth. But she wanted to keep her teeth.
It was a
stroke of luck that we found a dentist who would accept the lower Medicaid
payment
and do the work on her teeth. It turns out that what she had been told
was not true.
Medicaid will pay for dental work so that people can keep their teeth.
This same
dentist has been appalled by the conditions of people's mouths when they
come to him. Their oral health has been neglected probably because they
were told, as was the case of that woman, that their dental care would
not be covered by Medicaid. This is just one example of how the poor are
victimized in our society.
Let me tell you another story of a homeless person
who went to a town office in
southern Maine to apply for General Assistance. Incidentally according
to the laws of the state of Maine, everyone has the right to apply for
General Assistance, the state welfare program. She was told she was not
eligible. When she pressed and wanted to fill out the form anyway, she
was threatened with arrest. General Assistance applicants are frequently
treated harshly. Imagine being down to your last crumb, in danger of losing
your home, without any food to feed your children and going to the local
office to try to get help and being greeted with an angry "What are
you doing here?" I am not making that up, it happened and it happens
everyday right here in Maine. Is that how people already struggling day
to day to have the barest needed to sustain life, should be treated? Threats,
rudeness, victimization, and daily struggle is the lot of the poorest
among us. Mental illness, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, physical
handicaps, homelessness, divorce and medical problems are just some of
the reasons people are poor. Also keep in mind that many living in poverty
are working, sometimes at two or more jobs but are still not able to afford
all the necessities of life. Is it their fault? That is something each
of us must answer for ourselves. Regardless of your response to that question
-- does that excuse us from failing to do as Jesus told Peter and what
we as Christians need to remember. "Care for my sheep." As you
can see this has been a deeply moving and at the same time a disturbing
year for me. I do what I can and will continue, but the assault on these
people increases daily. We need an army of people saying, this must stop!
I have a final story to share with you. As a lead
in to this story let me tell you about
part of the study session we had on Economic Justice. We used the booklet
by Ched Myers, noted theologian and author. In the final chapter after
talking about what the Bible says about Economic Justice, he talks about
what we can do to change things beginning with us as individuals. He says
we should examine our "addictions" and give them up -- perhaps
a better way to put this is to say these are things we want but do not
need to sustain our lives. We in the class agreed that we all had our
own addictions and it would be difficult to give them up though we know
we could and should and would examine them and work on it.
The story I want to tell you concerns a family
of five in New Jersey. Perhaps some of you saw this family on a recent
Oprah show. This was a different kind of reality show, part of the National
Geographic Channel's Worlds Apart series.
The Palmers of East Brunswick, New Jersey, including mother and father,
a daughter 14, and two sons aged 12 and 8 went to Kenya to live with a
family of the Rendille Tribe. As you can imagine, the contrast between
these nomadic people and this typical American family was startling. The
American mother was determined to follow the traditions of the African
tribe where the mother was responsible for much of sustaining her family.
It was very difficult for her and on the second day not only Mrs. Palmer
but the whole family was ready to give up and go home. But they stayed
and came to realize that these people live full, rich, and complete lives
with what the Palmers considered, very little. By the last night, the
Palmers didn't want to leave. It was particularly touching to see the
eight year old sobbing about leaving and being
gathered into the arms of a very large African man who spoke soothingly
to him about
keeping in touch and how it would be all right. The boy calmed down and
stopped
crying. Each of the Palmer children said the same about their experience
-- we don't
need all the things we have. They learned that human connection and caring
is
priceless and really what life is all about. Let me read you the quote
from Susan
Palmer, their mother -- "The question weighs on my mind, what do
you do with the
knowledge? Do you just take it home and say, ' I was lucky enough to be
born where
I was' or do you think about how you can effect change? "
My mother would know the answer to Susan's question
-- she would say, we must
change before it is too late. On this day when we celebrate our mothers
across
generations, may we stop and think about nurturing and caring for others.
Nurturing
and caring is needed now more than ever as vital programs are cut, more
are living in
poverty, hunger is present in Maine and in the world. The Old Testament
prophets
admonished the people to turn away from their greed and to care for the
poor. Jesus
told us what we should do "Feed and Tend my sheep!" We can do
no less.
Finally, what would it take to feed all the hungry
of the world -- about $3.1 billion
which is coincidentally the Pentagon budget for one month.
Let us Pray -
Let us remember today the words of Jesus to care for the poorest among
us. Open
our eyes to see the homeless person on the street carrying his earthly
possessions on his back. Help us to hear the anguished cries of our hungry
children. Open our hearts to the despair of the mother unable to provide
for her family. Help us to understand the plight of the physically handicapped,
the disabled veteran, and the mentally ill who live without adequate medical
care. God, give us the strength and courage to speak for these our neighbors,
our brothers and sisters who no longer have the strength to speak for
themselves. Help us to understand that in community we have responsibility
for one another. Help us to understand that in doing all these things
we will be following the directive of Jesus to "care for my sheep."
Thank you, God for our Mothers and their example of nurturing and caring.
WE pray these prayers in Jesus name, Amen
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