Day 29 - Meaningful Connections

Reading: Matthew 9:9-13

The following passage is an extract from A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Smith. Although it was written in an American context over a decade ago, it still speaks powerfully into our experience today.

‘Consider this commonplace urban dilemma. On your route to work, two or three beggars have staked out street corners that you must pass every morning. They are ragged and unwashed; you are clean-shaven and well-pressed. They have nothing; you have a home, a family, a job. And yet they have the power to make you cross the street and go blocks out of your way to avoid encountering them.

It’s not that parting with a few coins is so painful. En route to work, we may have already spent five dollars on coffee, newspapers, and bus and subway fare. What feels so costly is facing the disparity between ourselves and another human being. Even if we pass by without acknowledging the outstretched hand and the mumbled request for spare change, we can’t escape such a flagrant display of life’s unfairness. Why is this person sick, addicted to drugs, homeless, while I have good health and a comfortable life?

I make a conscious effort to resist the urge to ignore street people. And I try to recognise the needy person’s humanity by extending a smile and a kind word along with a few coins. I don’t do this only because it makes me feel less guilty - which it does. When we walk past an indigent person without even a nod of recognition, we deny the existence of God in that person. When we pretend that he or she is invisible, we blind ourselves to that person’s inner light and its connection to our own.’

Robert Smith’s experience is one that we can all relate to. And certainly, his advice about offering humanising contact with the poor is spot on. I’ve made this my practice in responding to beggars at robots, and it’s been transformative for me. Now, whenever I’m approached by a beggar at a robot, I wind down my window (some say this is a security risk - if so, I reckon it’s worth it), look the person straight in the eye, ask them how they’re doing and wish them well. I don’t feel obliged to give them money, though sometimes I do. If I choose not to give any money I say so honestly and directly. I don’t say, “I’m sorry but I don’t have anything to give you,” because that’s not true. I’d usually say something like, “I’m not going to give you any money, but I can see that life is hard for you. I’m really sorry that it’s so tough.” That kind of simple, honest engagement, together with a friendly smile, can be a humanising encounter for both of us. Now, red robots can be little punctuation marks of grace scattered through my day. Try it. You’ll be amazed at the difference that it can make in your attitude towards those who, for whatever reasons, find themselves in a place of great need.

That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t fully respond to the essential point that Robert Smith was making, that encountering the poor highlights the injustice of gross inequality within our world.

Which raises a further, crucially important point for people who are seeking a living faith that is rooted in Christ and growing in love. And it is this: If our interactions with the poor are limited to occasions when we are being asked to give them something, we will never be able to bridge the divide that our inequality creates.

The challenge, therefore, is to look for opportunities to interact with the poor when we will not be required to make a decision as to whether to give them money or not. Such opportunities create the possibility, at least, of engaging in ways that are not completely defined by the labels of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ that invariably stick to us.

As you think about your life, where might such opportunities be found? At work, perhaps? At your child’s school? At the running club? Here at church? If the circles in which you operate hold very few opportunities for meaningful engagement with the poor, could it mean that you consciously need to widen your circles?

Question for reflection:

What could you do to engage more meaningfully with the poor?

Prayer:

Lord, every time I connect with a fellow human being in a respectful way that transcends the roles and labels society puts on us all, your glory can be seen in a fuller, clearer way. Help me today to look with eyes of compassion and love upon all whom I meet, and especially the poor, that I may come to recognise your divine image in them and their sacred worth as beloved children of yours. Amen.