Jitterbugging for Jesus

And let’s talk about poverty in terms other than simple-minded, out-of-context tropes that do violence to scripture like “Paul said those who don’t work don’t eat” or “Jesus said the poor will always be with us.”

Here’s a 5-star review a reader wrote about The View From Down in Poordom at Amazonbooks.com:

“When I finished reading the introduction to this book, I worried that author Paul McKay’s political perspective was going to act as a filter through which the various scripture passages he reflected on would be interpreted. And without a doubt, as McKay’s reflections suggest, there *are* political implications to the Bible’s teachings concerning poverty and care for the poor. But The View From Down in Poordom turned out to be pleasantly evenhanded and, well, rather unpleasantly convicting.


Click this pic to see chapters in The View From Down in Poordom.

“McKay challenges the conservative tendency to view the poor as lazy and undeserving of anything besides, maybe, some help finding a job. This evidently was not the view of many biblical writers such as the apostle Paul, who wrote in Galatians 2:10 that he was eager to remember the poor. But McKay also critiques the liberal tendency to push for greater material relief for the poor without any accompanying challenge to change the sinful behaviors and attitudes which often exacerbate poverty. The Bible, we come to realize, does not fit neatly into either a conservative or liberal mold when it comes to poverty. Rather, it challenges both mindsets not to pass the buck, either to government or employment, but rather to be willing to personally sacrifice for the less fortunate.

“That is a message, delivered in this brief but heartfelt volume, that the American church would do well to heed.”

I don’t know this reader-reviewer, but he definitely read the book and got it.

It so happens I came across a concise quote this morning from Dorothy Day, one of my faith heroes, and realized it says in a few words what I said (or what I tried to say) in the conclusion of the book.

Said Day, who is on track to Catholic sainthood in spite of having had an abortion before her conversion from communism to radical-love Christianity:

Dorothy Day, taking it to the streets in protest.

“We know God in the breaking of bread and we are not alone any more. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.”

Indeed, once we’ve engaged the poor and homeless, once we’ve sat down and listened to their stories and established the rapport that is friendship with them, we’ve had a taste of the heavenly banquet with them.

Here’s a portion of what I wrote in the conclusion of The View:

In the wake of all the preceding scriptures, reflections, stories, and information, it would be reasonable for someone to ask, “So what?” As in “So what am I supposed to do now? And by the way, I’m an insanely busy person with more things to do and places to be than I can say grace over. I want to do more for the poor, but I don’t have much to offer other than prayers and donations to church and charity—or doing things I already do like volunteer time at the local food pantry. And frankly, I don’t know what I can do to make much difference in a world where so many suffer so much need!”

My short answer would be this: relax and make more friends. Rather than just handing out cans of food at the food pantry with a smile and a “God bless you”—which is good as far as it goes—take a little extra time to make one or two or ten new friends there or wherever the needy may be found near you.

We all need friends to sit with us the way good, dependable friends do; that is, without laying prejudgments or authoritative, parent-like demands on us. We can all enlarge our circle of friends from outside our usual social spheres to include the poor, who are never far from wherever we are.

Consider that in our insanely busy lives, we somehow manage to find time to be an attentive and caring presence with our friends. Developing a rapport with someone in need and maintaining a friendship with him or her feels like a rewarding, enriching pleasantry—the stuff of which good memories are made. Doing for the poor only as a Christian duty to scratch off a do-good list leaves nobody feeling enriched…

A common tendency in ministry to the poor is just that — that it’s ministry to the poor instead of partnership with them. Friendship implies partnership—navigating this life thing together, as equals. Too often, we assume to know what poor people need to provide for themselves without asking them what they need—without seeing them as equals. Too often, we see ourselves as the haves who somehow know what’s best for the have-nots.

When Jesus encountered the blind man, Bartimaeus, he asked him a direct question: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51 NRSV). Jesus knew that the man in front of him wanted his sight, but asking the pointed question gave Bartimaeus a sense of empowerment that he’d probably never felt. The fact that somebody cared enough about him to ask what he wanted made him feel that, for once in his life, he mattered to somebody in this harsh world.

The book is available at Amazonbooks.com here.

Also at barnesandnoble.com here.

Day was the founder of Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality for the poor, publisher-editor of the radical Catholic Worker newspaper, and a fierce resistance leader.