The recent wave of protests that have arisen around the country and the world in reaction to the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor reminds me of why the biblical prophets gained prominence during the eighth century B.C.
That period of time was also a time of great economic disparity between the haves and the have nots and the disparity, not unlike this current time, was fueled by unbridled greed.
If you have been following my writing here on LivingLutheran.com many of you know that I serve in a ministry setting where there is a large population of people living in poverty. The depth of that poverty has increased over the last couple of years.
Milwaukee now ranks as the ninth poorest city in the nation. But more important than the latest and darkest statistics are the human beings who are represented by those statistics.
They are human beings who have lost hope, people who have turned to drugs or alcohol in order to dull the pain.
What I have come to realize and understand is the systemic nature of poverty. People don’t desire to be poor. The majority of people living in poverty are poor because of circumstances and realities that are larger than themselves.
What ought not be lost on any of us in the Occupy Movement is what these people are angry about.
Righteous anger
It was what the prophets were angry about.
It is what we who are people of faith ought to be angry about, namely the growing poverty that we witness not only on our shores but also around the world, that is the result of the excessive greed of a few.
In a recent text study as we were mulling over one of the Advent texts, a colleague said, “I just see so much anger, so many people who are living in a place of despair.” And the anger is legitimate.
People have been without a livable wage ever since the factories closed in the mid-1970s in this city. It’s dark!
No jobs and no prospect of a job. It’s dark!
Forty percent of our children will drop out of school by the end of ninth grade and some of them will end up on the street with no dreams and no place to go but a dead end. It’s dark!
Where do we find hope?
But hope comes when we stop defining life primarily in individual terms and begin to relate to each other and the world.
Those who have been blessed with great resources are asked to share those resources with the least of these, but more importantly we must challenge the structures and the systems and the value judgments that keep people in poverty.
Those of us who serve in this ministry have witnessed a significant increase in the numbers because the need has increased.
A few weeks ago we served almost 500 people a hot meal and we distributed another 200 bags of groceries out of our food pantry.
It is a blessing that we are able to feed people but the words that drip from the mouths of the prophets are words that call for the doing of justice.
Listen to Amos:
“Do you know what I want?” God asks. “I want justice — oceans of it. I want fairness — rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
I pray in this season of Advent that God will stir such passion in all of us.
Ken Wheeler is pastor of Cross Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Milwaukee. He served 18 years as an assistant to the bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA.
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At the end of November the Ezekiel text left out one of the most descriptive pieces of text for anyone who ever spent time dealing with cattle. Ezekiel 34: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet? At least for me it is a reminder that every nation who has ever seen a major shift of wealth from the masses to the few has fallen. Occupy is not about jealousy as some have said, it is about the call to a nation, rooted in the prophetic calls in scripture, to turn to the least, lost and lonely and there see the face of God.
I worked at a bilingual elementary school and in 4 years it went from 76% poverty to 95% in an affluent area. I would go home and watch the news and see the enormous profits of companies. In one of the richest countries that claims to be Christian why would any American child ever go without. Like you I agree with your blog the answer was the greed and the hard hearts of a few. Amos and Ezekiel to me as well are a reminder that these periods of time have happened before and what will happen if we do not take care of the least of these.Thank you Pastor Dan for the Ezekiel verses. They reminded me we do have a President who extended unemployment benefits longer than anyone ever has before and fought courageously for the American Jobs bill. He could use some prayer, God's work and our hands.
I think it's a little bit past righteous anger. Perhaps instead of trying to patch an inherently fatal system, we try something new, like repentence. And by 'we', I don't mean 'those poor people', or 'you sinners', but 'us', you and me. Looks like Amos 4:6-11 was prophesying about our times:
"'I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the LORD.
'I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the LORD.
'Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the LORD.
'I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the LORD.
'I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the LORD."
then again, perhaps what repentance looks like is repairing the system
@Peter Nice to see the Amos verses. You do not hear them often because they sting a bit. I think we forget how rich we are just because we live here in America. Our poorest are rich compared to 50% of the world. If the world was a village with 100 people 1 goes to college most likely American, 10 can read etc. I try to read that every year. When you are the rich that includes me when it is put in perspective repentance should be almost a daily routine while you thank God for such blessing. Repentance is not enough when you are as blessed as we are then you are blessed to be a blessing to others that includes the rest of the world. I worry that I do not do enough that way. I fear that when I have to answer for that I still do not know how blessed and rich I am. i think it is more than an individual thing--it is supporting humanitarian policies, aid, and real solutions at local, state, Federal and world level. it is why i like giving to the Heifer Project.n Our trash would be an enormous treasure in some places of the world. I think I will look for an opportunity in the world that God opens and is doing at this very moment and join Him. I think I will make that my Epiphany for the year in honor of light that always comes even in the dark.