Trying to follow

In an effort to post something meaningful for Blog Action Day I’ve posted an old post I wrote that I think could have one of the most relevant impacts on global poverty possible.

This was a discussion that started with some friends of mine at Wheaton College our senior year. If your interested in some of the history of the discussion here are some links: My first post on it, Nate’s follow up month’s later (including a lot of discussion in the comments), Another Nate post and discussion, finally here is a related post by me from March.
You can skip those and I’m going to write my thoughts on it below, hopefully touching on everything of importance from the previous discussion.

2006 HHS Poverty Guidelines

SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 71, No. 15, January 24,
2006, pp. 3848-3849

An important clarification needs to be made about what I’m about to suggest. This is not an attempt at sainthood, or some “holier than thou” type of living, rather it is meant to be very simple and practical. As a member of the human family, and more specifically as a Christian, I think there are certain guidelines by which we should try and live our lives. As a society we already have some standards in place through governmental force (speeding) and simple public consensus (think making noise during a movie, cutting in a line, etc). The idea of living a dollar above the poverty line is simply another attempt at putting before us some sort of standard to live by.

The choice of the national poverty line was a simple one. Though we didn’t all actually discuss the choice of the national poverty line, it is the guideline we as a society have accepted as the indicator of poverty. It is a simple line, if your annual income is below that amount you are considered “in poverty” and you are eligible for certain help. If you have one dollar above that amount in your annual income you are NOT poor and we as a society agree you have the financial resources you need.

As a Christian I think there is a good case for us to not take more then we need (maybe like the manna in the desert), and to use what we have been given to contribute to the needs of those around us. That being said, we should probably be thinking about a guideline for ourselves to determine how much meets our “needs.” In a society of more wealth and resources then we’ve ever imagined, it’s hard to even admit that there might be a line below “whatever you can afford” by which we should live. I believe we as a church should be having this discussion together. And I believe that the national poverty line is a good guideline to start with.

So, I believe strongly that effective immediately, we should begin to try and live by the standard of one dollar above the poverty line. For my wife and I that means $13,201 a year. A monthly budget of about $1000.
Mindy and I have made series efforts throughout our marriage to make lifestyle changes to live within that amount. We’ve had roommates for a number of reasons, but one of them being the financial necessity of staying within our budget. We thought through and planned out a budget we try to stay within to make that budget possible. In all our attempts though, we still fall far short.

First, if you include the cost of Mindy’s college tuition, we are no where near a $1000 a month budget. The reality is anyone living at our nation’s poverty line will have a difficult time moving past that if they can’t afford an education. We also couldn’t have simply purchased a decent car last fall when ours broke down. Though we’ve made an effort to adjust our budget to accommodate the cost of the car, and a couple plane tickets home for Christmas, the reality is that if we truly didn’t have more then a poverty line income, we couldn’t make those large purchases when we needed to.

Second, the recognition of our inability to “survive” at the poverty line puts us in a compelling position to take political action. What that probably means is that you need to give your senator a call and tell them you believe the minimum wage and the poverty line should be raised. You should let your congress person know that you tried living near the poverty line and it just wasn’t possible without some extra help. And I guess if your not political, you could at least set-up an appointment with your pastor and tell them about the gap between those trying to survive and the places they can go to meet their needs. Forget politics for a second and we’ll come to the real meat of this post, the ability the church could have for good if we started living by a guideline that meets our needs and then meets the needs of others (rather then our own wants).

Can you imagine for a minute a church that adopted that sort of expectation for it’s members? In the same way many churches spend their efforts convincing their congregation that they should outlaw gay marriage, it would be refreshing and amazing to see pastors encouraging their congregations to radically change their current lifestyle. Imagine a church with doctors and school teachers, CEO’s and janitors all choosing to live at a standard that meets their needs and giving their extra resources to meet the needs of others. Shouldn’t we as Christian’s dictate our cost of living more as a group within the churches we attend than by the income we make?

This is meant to be an ongoing conversation. I haven’t set in stone this dollar amount as a standard for myself or others, but I believe their should be one. So let’s have the discussion, and let’s decide how we should live.

I think this might be the most specific verse in the Hebrew Scriptures related to the issue of abortion:

Exodus 21:22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Apparently, there has been much scholarly discussion and debate in recent years about this text and it’s implications on the issue of abortion. My personal perspective, upon reading it, is that it gives some indication that the treatment of the death of a fetus is different then the treatment of “serious injury” to the mother. With scholarly academics expounding on both sides of the issue, it’s hard to come to an adequate conclusion based on that evidence.

I think we should all be willing to accept questions or challenges to our own viewpoints. I am willing to accept challenges to my current thoughts. I first came across this verse when I still held an anti-abortion view. So, I’m curious what your impression of this scripture is. Try to be as unbiased as possible.

I recently read The Church of 80% Sincerity by David Roche. I picked it up after reading a chapter in Anne Lamott’s book Plan B about Roche and how he had inspired her. His book was extremely interesting and touching as he walked through his life and reflected on how he’d come to create his “Church of 80% Sincerity”. It is a real church, to him, it more or less exist in his head, and the heads of others who’ve come to embrace the lessons and rules of living that he found have helped him to both cope and thrive in life.
Roche has a sever facial deformity. A bit of what he talks about centers around how that has impacted his life, but much of it is in a sort of retrospective fashion. He actually never talked about his face (beyond a brief physical explanation) to any friends, including a spouse, until he was forty-something. He grew up with what he’d described as a surprisingly normal childhood. His parents were very encouraging and he learned from them not to say anything about his deformity, because they never did.
What built up though, was years of unprocessed thoughts, deep feelings of pain and questioning that he could share with no one. And what is conveyed through the story, is that they are the same depths of insecurity that we almost all have. Roche points out that the out front physical deformity he carries serves as a mirror to the many inward insecurities that so many face.

It’s a great book and you should read it.

This isn’t a post of my thoughts, more an inquiry of yours. What was your take on the debate, either yesterdays or any of the previous ones…

Discuss.

It’s my birthday. So if your looking for a youtubesdayish way to wish me happy birthday, might I suggest bubblejoy.com

I don’t know why (tribute to Zach and Keane) but this is what I felt like posting as a birthday video…

My only birthday wish is that I’ve had a positive impact on others lives, that I’ve loved my neighbor and followed God. If I’ve had a positive impact on your life I’d love to know how…email me.