The Lent I Ate with the Marginalized
I was never fed so lavishly than when I was fed by those on the margins.
Following Jesus in rejecting empire
Tag: poverty
Poverty and Abundance
Lessons from Francis of Assisi For his whole life possessions had possessed Francis, especially clothing and fashion. His addiction to finery was like a prison, even more confining than the dungeon where he had languished for a year after a battle with nearby Perugia. His father had taken him to court for selling the family…
Another World is Possible
The number of poor has narrowed while the gap between them and the rich has widened. We’ve purchased more guns for protection yet witnessed more homicides. Freedom is our highest value yet we incarcerate more people than anyone else. We have better information yet promote more outlandish conspiracies. We have more friends and followers yet…
The Poor You Will Always Have With You
“The poor you will always have with you…” (Matthew 26:11 and Mark 14:7). As someone who holds deep convictions about God’s call to love and serve those excluded by our economic systems, I’ve thought a good bit about these words of Jesus spoken during Holy Week. They were provoked when a woman broke open an…
Poverty’s Not The Problem. Greed is.
I was at an international conference where an African speaker said, “Why are Americans so interested in coming to Africa to solve poverty? Poverty is not a problem. Greed, now that’s a problem! Maybe Africans should come to America to help them solve greed.” I love provocative statements like that. I know that poverty is…