redemptive relationships (part 2)

Perhaps it’s easy to see how redemptive relationships can be for the poor. Like threading a needle with a camel, though, it may be hard for the nonpoor to recognize the importance of relationships with the poor. We are so conditioned to see ourselves as self-sufficient and sophisticated—what in the world do we need to learn from the poor?

In the words of friends with whom I have shared experiences overseas in communities of poor people: “humility”—“generosity”—“hospitality”—“kindness”—“slowing down”—“acceptance”—“patience”—“joy”. These are all worthwhile lessons…but there is so much more.

There is a strong temptation for the nonpoor is to glorify poverty as a state of opportunity to learn about simplicity and priorities. This is a tragic and costly mistake. For as long as our experience with poverty leads us to think only that the poor have figured out how to live richly, we will be unable to see the pain beneath the coping mechanisms poor communities have developed to survive. We need to enter into the stories of the poor to learn that there is a complex blend of joy and pain, laughter and tears, strength and suffering, love and longing in their individual and corporate life.

We need to learn about our common humanity, our common need, our common struggle. We need to learn about being a loving neighbor—the 2nd highest priority for all of Christ’s disciples—one that flows out of the 1st priority—loving God. We need to learn compassion for those who are suffering on the margins. We need to learn to hate injustice and oppression the way God does. We need to learn to rely on God and not ourselves.