9-24-13 - Crumbs From Your Table

Many a lyric in a U2 song alludes to a verse of Scripture or a theological idea. Their 2004 song, Crumbs from Your Table, references the parable we’re exploring this week, especially the second sentence: “And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.”

Bono has said that the song was in part a reaction to his attempts to get American evangelicals to take action on the AIDS crisis in Africa – an effort he likened to "getting blood from a stone.” As residents of one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and especially as representatives of Jesus Christ, our churches might be expected to be at the forefront of efforts to address poverty. Many church budgets, though, allocate less than 1 percent to such efforts. Maybe if our giving were less grudging we would find more people interested in our churches and our faith. As that song’s chorus goes,

"You speak of signs and wonders /I need something other / 
I would believe if I was able / But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table." (lyrics here)

What about us? Do we tolerate a culture of wealth that leaves many of the world’s poor begging for survival? We know that some efforts yield results. In a New York Times editorial about the progress made against preventable poverty by the Millennium Development Goals, Bono wrote: "Tens of millions more kids are in school thanks to debt cancellation. Millions of lives have been saved through the battle against preventable disease…Poverty declined by 1 percent a year from 1999 to 2005."

He urged us to keep at the ambitious goals which the MDGs set for 2015, to secure clean water, food, education, and health for all people in the world. That can happen if all people in the world share the responsibility. And our “response-ability” increases when we feel more connected.

Lazarus is depicted as sick, hungry, homeless, forgotten, having no power over his circumstances whatsoever. People who suffer often need not only our resources – they need us to share power and control, a transfusion of life and hope – and yes, food. The rich man in Jesus’ parable didn’t see the beggar at his gate. Who are we missing?

Here’s a prayer experiment for today: “God, I invite you to show me someone I’m not seeing.” And just hold your imagination open for a few minutes – see what words or images take shape. If you get a response, you might ask the next question: “What shall I do with that person?” Not “for,” “with.” The Lazarus’s of our world are not “beggars.” That’s not their identity. They are people with gifts and hopes and dreams and families and histories – and futures. Sometimes we can help shape what kind.

A line from Crumbs From Your Table goes, 
“Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die.”  
As winners in the birth lottery, and beloved of God, how are we being invited to spread the grace around?