Shane Claibourne in his book Irresistible Revolution writes, “When we talk of materialism and simplicity, we must always begin with love for God and neighbor, otherwise we’re operating out of little more than legalistic, guilt-ridden self-righteousness. Our simplicity is not an ascetic denunciation of material things to attain personal piety, for if we sell all that we have and give to the poor, but have not love, it is meaningless.” 162

Sunday, May 18 we considered the question, “What is poverty?” We watched a video produced by www.theworkofthepeople.com where you can watch, the video “What is poverty?.” Consider the question: If you lost everything- house, family and savings, how long would it take you to find food, shelter and work?
In short the video defines poverty as not having friends. Friends care for one another- a friend would feed you, give you a place to stay and help you get back on your feet. A haunting line from the video is that even with all the aid $ and relief work the number of poor continues to rise. We are among the 20% of the worlds wealthy. How are we to respond. We are challenged to befriend the poor.

We also watch a trailer for the upcoming documentary “What Are We Doing Here”
The film takes a look at the impact or lack of impact of aid money & relief work.

Thinking about the needs of the world and the problem of poverty can be totally overwhelming. We are all challenged to do our part. We can learn from and depend on each other to do our part. I know I can’t do much on my own.