extreme poverty

Living, or perhaps better said, struggling to survive on less than $1 a day is the status quo for more than one billion people in this world. 1/7th of the population of the planet lives in "extreme poverty." Truth be told, the amount of people who fall into the "struggling to survive" category is much larger yet, which is why the United Nations saw the new millennium as an opportunity to motivate change in the systems and powers that make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. The 8 goals are aimed at changing the world - a huge task no doubt - and have a goal of 2015 for their completion. You can read the list of goals and their measurables here.

At the UN in New York today global leaders of all types; political, religious, humanitarian, etc. are gathering for talks on the progress (or lack their of) and the bishops of the Anglican Communion have asked all Anglicans to committ to prayer and fasting this day. Additionally, Mike Kinman over at EGR asked that bloggers unite to flood the blog-o-sphere with information on the MDGs. This is my contribution to that cause.

I spent a week in the San Jose, Costa Rica in the summer of 2006 working with a group called the Abraham Project. They are building and running group homes for orphaned children in the outskirts of San Jose. On Wednesday of that week we joined the staff of AP on their monthly pilgrimage to Christ for the City's feeding ministry. We loaded into vans with coolers full of rice, beans, meat, and kool-aid to offer what would most likely be the only hot meal these families would recieve all week.

It is impossible to be prepared for such an event. Thinking about... theologizing about... praying about extreme poverty is one thing. Seeing it face to face is entirely another. It is a heartbreaking thing to see children who walk streets filled with human waste and live in homes made from broken down road signs and corroguated metal. It is even worse when you know, full well, that their parents would do anything to change things, but the first rung of the ladder is out of reach unless they join the illegal drug industry. The system is broken and the victims are without power to change it; without even voice to make enough noise that someone might here.

Swiss theologian Emil Brunner wrote, "The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church." Today the Church yells with full voice "WE EXIST!" which means that mission is happening. Today I stand in solidarity with people across political, theological, and socio-economic lines to say, "The systems of oppression must change, and we can do something about it." Today I pray for those in power that God might impress upon their hearts his compassion for the poor and his hope for his Creation. Today I give thanks that the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated by Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection and recommit my life to its continued inbreaking into the stiffnecked, hard hearted world.

Let your hearts be broken friends. Let your eyes be opened. Let your hears hear. And then let your lips and your blogs and your pens and your wallets speak that the Kingdom of God is near.