Midweek: Fighting Fraud

Each week I visit a local food pantry: we could use the help, and we share with another group of people. Even if we are able to gather a few staples, we are grateful; and more than once, we've actually gotten an entire meal courtesy of this local church's benevolence! As I was leaving the pantry the other morning, a volunteer handed me a copy of a New York Times article (July 17, 2022) entitled, What Should Be Done When Food Donations Go to Those Who Don't Need Them? A reader, a Times volunteer at a food redistribution charity, posed the question, What is the ethical responsibility of the charitable organizations who are distributing these donations to ensure that those who truly need the food are those who receive it? An interesting question for sure. 

Over the years I have served in various programs to help those in need. Food redistribution charities or "pantries" as many churches label them, hot meals free of charge, clothing giveaways, and "free stores." I have recoiled when asked to carry bags of free groceries out to someone's brand new, fully loaded SUV. I have bitten my lip when a beneficiary complained we did not provide organic meat. I raged inwardly when an entire case of fresh sweet potatoes generously donated from a local farm was handed back to me with the explanation, "Oh, no one will want these because they're misshapen --not like the ones in the grocery store." Let me just say, I have eaten my share of relish sandwiches. I stood in my backyard one day and prayed for meat --real meat for my children. I would have been thrilled to receive ugly sweet potatoes or grocery store brand chicken! (SIDENOTE: Within an hour of my prayer, my neighbor knocked on the door with half a case of chicken her brother had given her. God is GOOD!) The lack of gratitude, the attitude of entitlement irked me to the point I wanted to quit; but hearing my husband express the same feelings of frustration, brought enlightenment as I searched for a way to encourage his compassion. Two things came to mind:

When I was dirt floor poor, I had a beautiful two-year old SUV. When I was saving my change just to get a slice of pizza once a week as a treat, I was wearing designer clothes. When I walked as much as I could to save money on fuel, I smiled and gave no one a clue about my need. A very sudden family situation had burdened me with legal fees, travel expenses, and no financial help other than my painfully str-e-e-e-e-etched paycheck. To outsiders, it didn't appear my mortgage company was preparing for foreclosure.

Secondly, every person on earth is in need: the lack of food or clothing can be an outward manifestation of that need. Sometimes, the hoarding of goods, the abuse of charitable programs, and the consequential lack of provisions available to those who are truly in need, is the outward manifestation. Like the alcoholic or compulsive shopper that escapes their poverty (emotional, spiritual, or otherwise) by misusing some other source of entertainment or provision, those who misappropriate the generosity of others long to compensate for the things they lack. Perhaps, they believe that by denying those who really need the services and products of charities, they are eliminating what they perceive to be competition in a very harsh, scary world. Perhaps it is greed, plain and simple. Whatever the mindset, we all need Jesus --to save us initially (justification), to save us daily (sanctification), and to save us future (resurrection). 

The dispensation of charity, I believe, should be met with lots of prayer and compassion. And I don't say that tritely. Pray for the ministry and God's direction for it. Pray for those who might be taking advantage to be convicted and have their true need met. Pray for those genuinely impoverished, that they would not only receive sustenance for their bodies, but the Bread of Life as well. Pray God would give you spiritual eyes to see and focus on the greater need, not outward circumstances. Pray God would give you the compassion of one who understands needs of which even "the needy" may not be aware. Pray that as you cheerfully hand them some peanut butter and rice, you are providing them with that which will last them through eternity.

Be Kind

I looked at the pictures over and over. What on earth is going on with my teeth?? Is that lettuce? BBQ? What is wrong with my teeth?! I still don't know, to be honest, but the question Why do you care? made me pause. Am I really that vain? We place a lot of value on appearances, don't we? I mean, maybe I am just a bit concerned over something being medically wrong. You've heard the story of someone being diagnosed with a terrible disease just by a photo posted on social media, right? Could this be...? Okay, now I'm being ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with my teeth.

Maybe.

I don't think.

Anywho, we've got this child. He's a great child. A terrific child. But it breaks my heart that so many parts of him were once left exposed and mistreated. You can't really tell just by looking at him. And even if you sat down and talked with him for a bit, I'm not sure if you would be able to tell. As a matter of fact, if he liked you, he might just come right out and tell you. He's still working on the discernment thing. If he didn't like you, you would probably, judging by the reaction you might get, decide he was a smart-mouthed, too-big-for-his-britches urchin who needed some discipline. But you'd be wrong.

You see, that's the thing about childhood trauma: it causes the parts that are supposed to develop during that time to sort of freeze --fight, flight, or freeze, right? --and it forces those parts of a child that should not yet (or sometimes ever) be developed in order to protect the vulnerable parts. So, our child can be cuddled up on my lap with the softest stuffed animal, appearing far younger than his age; or our child can be fighting and swearing and smug as a UFC champ. Our child can be likeable and tender and even juvenile, or our child can be vile and polarizing. And, as a mother, that concerns me. People will judge him. People who don't understand will be hard on him. People will not accept him. And I understand that. But whatever the moment, it is just a snapshot. Like all of us, our child has "multiple selves." (Be honest, is the "self" that goes to work the same "self" that kicks back in your favorite jammies bingeing on The First 48 and eating takeout?) Our child is no different, really; it's just that, because of past trauma, his "selves" are much more distant and more delayed in their coming together as one soul. It's sort of like seeing things through a View Master. Remember those? Two copies of the same image brought into focus that a singular three-dimensional image might be produced. His soul is still being brought into focus. And of course, we are doing all we can to facilitate that. His soul will be brought into focus, but there is navigating "the meantime."

I say all of this not to distract your attention from whatever is going on with my teeth, but to draw your attention to Paul's words in Ephesians 4:32:

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

This world is hard. Simple attributes like kindness and gentleness are at a premium. Especially when it comes to the way we treat the most vulnerable among us. And I'm not talking about all those grown folks that want to be victims, attaching themselves to labels and social media hashtags. But our babies, our children, our elderly, and yes, our women. Kindness brings the best of ourselves into focus. Kindness integrates those parts of us that are both sensitive and strong, creating a world where strength is found in the way we relate to one another and sensitivity is free to allow those relationships to exist. Kindness makes us all better and enables us all to thrive. Kindness is not some fragile, childish ideal, but it is power to love and the manifestation of God's Holy Spirit in a hard and unkind world.

The Guy in the Back

He sat quietly in the back, not really singing during the time for worshiping God in song, not coming forward to put anything in the basket during offering, but when it was time for prayer? when the opportunity to share prayer requests was given? This gaunt, heavily tattooed, well-spoken young man stood from his place at the back and introduced himself:  

I am X, and this is my life...

Though his introduction was brief, his request bore the depth and weight of all he'd endured and the endless expanse of all he wished to do. Within the week, X was dead. What we knew of this humble man we knew: there would be nothing more to learn.

I've mentioned before, sometimes our church services, during those less formal moments, can track more like an AA meeting. My name is ___, and I am a drug addict; or, My name is ___, and I was recently released from prison. It's one of the things I love most about our fellowship. This small gathering is a safe place where secrets are revealed --not exposed --in the hopes of finding healing. I hope X found his healing.

Isaiah 53:5 tells us the scourging Jesus received prior to His crucifixion is for us, the means of our healing. Physical healing? Perhaps, but I think to wish for that is selling short all Jesus accomplished. The things this life --this physical, temporal life --has to offer are wonderful. When God created this place, He deemed it good. Would a perfect God have created anything less? It was man's choice for something less than, the choice for something immediate and tangible and "pleasant to the eyes" that brought a curse, that brought death and destruction to mankind and this place in which we live. Is the healing I want physical? Is the reward or restoration I seek something that can be touched or tasted? Isn't that settling? X didn't ask for something so small. X had a vision for something much better for himself. And X had no clue, I'm sure, his days in this physical world would be so few.

Jesus has something more for you, something greater than mere physical health. And that's not to say, He will not cure you of cancer or regulate your a-fib or stop your seizures. But there is a healing that surpasses anything this world has to offer, a restoration, a reconciliation of relationship with our Creator, the One True and Living God. Jesus' death and resurrection guarantee a clean slate, the forgiveness of all our sins; it guarantees the repair of a once broken relationship with the God of the universe; it guarantees our adoption as sons and daughters of the Most High; it guarantees His Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Helper, living and working in us to transform us into the best humans we can be in Christ; and it guarantees our inheritance, the presence of God with us and us in His presence eternally!

What needs to happen for you to find your healing? for you to choose to seek Him and know Him and obey Him? What needs to happen for you to do what he's called you to do? to find a place where people will surround you in love and pray for you? to stand up where you are, introduce yourself, and speak the desires of your heart to the God who listens to the broken? I hope you find your healing.

Midweek: Do You Love It Enough?

In thinking of the condition of our country and its citizens, in considering the upcoming election, I am reminded of G.K. Chesterton's words in his work, Orthodoxy. There are things for which I hope in the natural, but more than that, most of all, it is my prayer that God receive glory. In saying this, I share Chesterton's words with you today:

We say there must be a primal loyalty to life: the only question is, shall it be a natural or a supernatural loyalty? If you like to put it so, shall it be a reasonable or an unreasonable loyalty? Now, the extraordinary thing is that the bad optimism (the whitewashing, the weak defence of everything) comes in with the reasonable optimism. Rational optimism leads to stagnation: it is irrational optimism that leads to reform. Let me explain by using once more the parallel of patriotism. The man who is most likely to ruin the place he loves is exactly the man who loves it with a reason. The man who will improve the place is the man who loves it without a reason. ...I do not deny that reform may be excessive; I only say that it is the mystic patriot who reforms. ...The more transcendental is your patriotism, the more practical are your politics.

Perhaps the most everyday instance of this point is in the case of women; and their strange and strong loyalty. Some stupid people started the idea that because women obviously back up their own people through everything, therefore women are blind and do not see anything. They can hardly have known any women. The same women who are ready to defend their men through thick and thin are (in their personal intercourse with the man) almost morbidly lucid about the thinness of his excuses or the thickness of his head. A man's friend likes him but leaves him as he is: his wife loves him and is always trying to turn him into somebody else. ...The devotee is entirely free to criticise; the fanatic can safely be a sceptic. Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.

...Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing? Can he look up at its colossal good without once feeling acquiescence? Can he look up at its colossal evil without once feeling despair? Can he, in short, be at once not only a pessimist and an optimist, but a fanatical pessimist and a fanatical optimist? Is he enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it? In this combination, I maintain, it is the rational optimist who fails, the irrational optimist who succeeds. He is ready to smash the whole universe for the sake of itself.

~ G. K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy