yesterday as i was driving home from a day of doctors and pharmacies and thoughts of being unemployed and uninsured i passed a church (let’s just say it was a Christian church and leave it at that) with a sign that announces the date and time and some bible verse, etc. last night it said “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” no mention of the chapter and verse – just what felt like an accusation. i know my bible and i know that this is paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “for even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat.” i will not interject a lot of scripture here but i will list a few regarding the poor, the hungry and the homeless for any who want to check them out.
Matthew 25:35-46
Mark 10:21, 12:31, 12:41-44
Luke 9:58, 12:48, 14:12-14
I John 3:17 (this is the only one I will quote…) “if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him how can the love of God be in him?”
as a smart, articulate, college-educated person i never thought that i would stand in a “free” clinic and tell the nurse that i am unemployed and uninsured and hand her $20 of my brother’s money to pay the co-pay. nor did i imagine that i would again tell the pharmacist—“no, i don’t have any insurance” and, whether real or imagined, see judgment in the eyes looking back at me. while i paid i was relieved that a check sent from my best friend will pay for my antibiotic.
i lost my job due to an illness and a boss who ignored a letter from my doctor stating that i needed 5 days off. after 4 days off with bronchitis and pneumonia i returned to work and was fired. 2 days later i lost my house, my car and all my possessions in a flood. the first 6 months i helped rebuild this house with my bare hands. over the next 16 months i have applied for 100+ jobs and sent resumes to nearly as many places and have had 2 interviews. at the end of both i was told that i am overqualified.
there are many things that i don’t pretend to understand (i’ve never been married or divorced, i don’t have children, i’m not illiterate or homeless, i’ve not lost a parent or been seriously ill) so i don’t attempt to judge those things or pretend that i can fix them. i am the child of divorce, i know what it’s like to graduate from college with $40,000.00 of debt, i know what being unemployed and uninsured mean, i know what it feels like to survive a natural disaster and i would like the same courtesy. we each have our own burdens and none are to be taken lightly or dismissed.
the more i think about that sign the angrier i get. to advertise that you, as a congregation, deign to understand what being homeless or hungry or out of work really feels like and really means in this day and age is condescending and uncaring. are there people who abuse the system? of course. but there are many people like me…praying with all our hearts that we will be able to support ourselves without unemployment or any other “social program.”
Jesus said, “whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
grace and peace
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