Every Child Deserves a Breakfast of Champions

I felt led to give a message on Poverty today in the silent, unprogrammed worship of Durham Quakers at Durham Friends Meeting.  The message went something like this:

     I went to the "Breakfast of Champions" Thursday morning at Rogers Herr Middle School where young people were awarded for the excellence and improvement. At that breakfast, several sixth graders shared their "I Have a Dream Speech" they wrote in celebration of Martin Luther King day. One little guy said, "I have a dream that one day I will be an architect, and build a hotel under the water." Another little girl said, "I have a dream that every child can come home from school, and there will be food on the table." Other sixth graders shared their dreams:

·        "That every child can be safe at school, and free of bullying"

·         "That every child will have a parent that lives and cares for them"

·         "That there are more places to help mentally ill people"

·         "That we will stop polluting Mother Earth”

·         "That people will not be treated differently because of what country they are from"

·         "That we would be one world and one big country so there would be no more war"

·         "That teachers would be treated like bridges to the future"

·         "That we would not be strangers, and we would be brothers and sisters as we are in God's eyes"

·         "That I could become an architect and build a hotel under the water"

·         "That everyone would be treated with respect"

·         "That we would treat animals with kindness and not kill them"

·         “That people will stop using drugs and alcohol”

·         “That everyone would be treated with respect”

·         “That all races will love each other as equals”

I was moved, almost to tears, as I heard these beautiful children share their beautiful dreams. I felt so lucky and blessed to have my son sitting with all these children, of so many colors, dreaming together.

After, the breakfast of champions I went to court where I represented young African American men charged with murder. After that, I went to a gathering of more than three hundred Durham community members who gathered at a Faith Summit on Poverty in Durham at Union Baptist Church on Roxboro Road.

At this Summit I learned that 27% of children in Durham live in poverty. That is below about 20,000 a year for a family of four. That is about 14,000 children in our community who live in poverty. And there were so many people at this gathering who believe we can end poverty for our children. In large groups, small groups, presentations, information sharing, we learned what so many people are doing already to help lift our children out of poverty. There are so many dedicated people working for poor folks, many of them are in our Meeting. They shared a dream that where you are born in Durham will not determine your opportunity to thrive in this world.

We heard from people like Bahari Harris of Empowering Walltown Youth, describing their summer and mentoring programs for children in Durham. We heard from Dr. Susan Blackmon Yo Durham, describing a Year of Opportunity for Durham Teens (Yo Durham) who learn and serve and succeed. We heard from Tasha Melvin, with Circles of Support for families transitioning from homelessness to homes. We heard from members of First in Families, our Betsy MacMichael's organization, who help form circles of support for families with people with disabilities. All these people shared optimism that we can end Poverty in Durham.

Some of the reasons for optimism is that the Durham economy is growing. There are jobs coming to Durham. (The trick is to help people in Durham get these jobs) We also have a tremendous amount of social capital, people willing to help each other. We have a tremendous intellectual capital, with all the geniuses at the Universities in our midst. We have strong faith communities willing to lead the privileged part of our community into fellowship with those with less privilege.  With these assets we can lift our children out of poverty.

The needs in our community emerged in themes throughout the day. People need a living wage for their work. People ought to be able to work all day, and that be enough to provide the basic needs for their families. People need reliable public transportation to get to work. People need safe housing. Families with children at risk for violence need support parenting and advocating for their children to get the most resources they can in schools.

We also heard from Dr. Barber who described the structural and institutional inequality that is violence in the form of poverty. He shared experiences from his statewide tour learning about poverty in North Carolina. He shared how families living in the woods would sweep up before they came in, and then share their food.  (In comparison, he also how less hospitable legislators in the General Assembly had him arrested)

His comments echoed Dr. Martin Luther King's critique of capitalism, and the great inter-related evils of economic exploitation, racism, and militarism.  These problems are still present, and are maybe even worse than they were in Dr. King's time.   More people are in poverty. More African American men are in prison.We are more militarized than ever before. The violence around us springs from the radical inequality between rich and poor, which is the legacy of our history of racial oppression.

Dr. Barber also reminded us that poverty is at the Center of God's agenda.  He reminded us that God identifies with the poor. I mean, Jesus was born in a barn. He hung out with fishermen and outcasts.  He told us that when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, or visit the prisoner we are with God. (Matt: 25:31-46).  He also reminded us that God blesses the poor: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20-21). 

Why would the poor be in the Kingdom of God? Because poor people, sick people, outcasts, and children understand the fragility of life.  They understand our need for each other, our fundamental interconnectedness. They know that we are with God when we are loving and caring for each other.

That means that our myth of self-reliance, this false story of rugged individualism, is a lie leading us away from each other, and away from God. This belief that we can do it alone, is self idolatry.

We come to our Quaker meeting to seek our personal relationship with God. We find inner peace, and meditate. We want to be kind, and be simple.  But if our spiritual path stops here, we have not truly found God.  If our spiritual path does not take us into the lives of the poor, the sick, the outcasts, then we are suffering an absence of the Divine. We are also affirming the status quo, with all its inequality, exclusion, and violence. If this is where we stop, then our silence is not worship. Our silence is violence. Complicity.

Dr. Barber reminded us of the consequences of ignoring the poor. He reminded us of the story of Lazarus. (Not the one who rose from the dead, but the one who was a beggar). Lazarus begged at the door of the rich man who completely ignored him. All Lazarus wanted was some crumbs from the rich man's table, but the rich man did not even see him. When Lazarus and the rich man died, Lazarus was comforted and the rich man was tortured in Hell. Now, all the rich man wish was that Lazarus would touch some cool water to his lips. Pretty harsh. But God said no, you were warned by the prophets that you must care for the poor. He asked if he could go back to his brothers and warn them, and God said no, they have the prophets.  

The real sin here is our failure to see the poor. Dr. Barber called this "ATTENTION VIOLENCE."  And the Hell is real, because it is separation from God. The missed opportunity to share in the divine is  Hell; and, the rich guy missed this opportunity every day he walked past Lazarus. 

It is in our love for each other that God becomes manifest.  We are God's gifts to each other. When can be with God when we can sit in the presence of boundless grief with victims of homicide, when we can share the table with someone who is really hungry, when we can share a roof with someone without one, when we can share a jail cell within a truly lonely prisoner, when we can give a ride to the immigrant mother who fears deportation every time she gets behind the wheel of a car.  We can experience the divine when we can share time with a disabled person who struggles mightily with tasks we take for granted. When we can sit in the presence of each other, not in guilt, but with love. We can share the joy of the opportunity of experiencing God together.  These poor, sick, outcasts can save us from the hell of our blind privilege, and we can help ease our suffering.

The folks at the Faith Summit were clear that we are not meant to work FOR the poor, we are meant to be WITH the poor. It is what Oscar Romero called "accompaniment," and Durham's own Marcia Owen calls "being with," instead of "being for."  We can find God by caring for each other, being with each other. We are not showing up with solutions, programs, professional expertise to fix  problems. We are showing up as children of God to be with our suffering brothers and sisters.

This is the path to the divine. It is together that we find God. "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

And so we have many opportunities to continue our journey into the lives of our suffering brothers and sisters. In our Meeting we have community action groups to end poverty, to help victims of gun violence, to   advocate for the environment, to assist immigrants. We are called by God to enter into real relationships with folks who suffer, and to ease suffering with our presence.   And so I say to you Friends, "Get thee to a community in action group."