Photo-a-day 2: ‘BOUND’
poverty
All posts tagged poverty
4. Yahweh’s preference for the nomads is understandable. Yahweh, whenever and in whatever guise he appeared, was a traveller. There are things about the nomad’s life that embody Yahweh’s values and character: life on the edges; indiscriminate and costly hospitality; solidarity with the marginalised (most of the nomad’s time is spent outside main centres and in the company of peripheral people); intimate relationships with humans and the environment; a new view at every step; the loosest possible hold on possessions. And although many nomadic societies are hierarchical, there’s an inevitable democracy among travellers. When everyone walks, no one’s king and everyone’s king. But let’s not get to romantic about the margin-people. They still need salvation. They’re just likely to find it easier to grasp than centre-people do. It’s notoriously hard for poor little rich boys to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Charles Foster, The Sacred Journey, p XIV
My thoughts:
A nomad/pilgrim isn’t necessarily marginalised or poor, but it’s true that they will often be found in the presence of the poor and the marginalised. Whether or not they have any chance of really identifying is questionable. When you are sleeping rough because you choose to, rather than because you must, when your money belt holds currency and cards, when you have the means to eat, drink and find shelter your solidarity is questionable. However, I guess the pilgrim may choose, for a while, to leave such securities behind and truly learn how to be content with very little or to freely share all that they have with those in need.
And maybe, just maybe, leaving those things behind will make it more possible to hear the voice of God and to begin to exhibit the values and characteristics Foster writes about.
If you want to share this:
Once upon a time I was part of a Christian band that travelled all over doing concerts and stuff. I want to use two short stories from that time to introduce this relatively simple posting.
******************************************
It was late. We had just finished a concert at a city church. We were tired.
He leaned across the bonnet of his Jag, pulled a fat wallet from his sharply tailored suit and peeled off a single ten pound note.
“Something for your petrol lads,” he said.
***********************************************************************
The smoke from the last fireworks still hung in the city air as we cleaned the dogs’ muck off our cables. We had managed not to have any of our equipment stolen, and had had a fantastic night playing to large crowds on a field in the middle of an inner-city housing estate in Manchester. The local church were thrilled by the positive results of the night that they had organised and took us back to their church where they fed and rested us.
As we left, the church treasurer came to us, looking slightly embarrased, and saying, “We wanted to honour and appreciate what you’ve done for us with this gift, but we’re so sorry it’s not more.
When we opened the gift we were completely bowled over by the amazing generosity we had been shown. We found out later that this small, inner-city church had pretty much emptied its bank account to give us a gift of love and appreciation.
************************************************************************
It is no secret that my family are currently struggling financially. I am also constantly aware that our ‘poverty’ is nothing compared to what some people have to contend with…all the same, it’s grindingly wearing for us!
We have friends who are in a similar position to us. Over the last couple of months we have received gifts of food, fresh vegetables from the garden, hot loaves of freshly baked, crusty bread, gifts of money and invites out for meals…all from people who are giving out of what they have. Riches are, I guess, really not measured in the way we so often think they are.
Two questions leap out at me:
How is it that the poorest people are often the most generous, sharing their homes, lives, goods and love freely and without strings attached?
And the second question, which worries me no end, is can we , in our time of relative poverty, share what we have, freely and without strings, with those who need our love too?
Pilgrim Traveller 