The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Oregon

UUCS Sermons
Sermon by the Reverend Richard R. Davis

It’s interesting how among the many thousands of people I have met at one time or another in my life, there are certain ones who stick in my memory.  For instance, although we were not friends and hardly ever said a word to one another, I’ll always remember Harold, a boy in my fifth grade class in Ozark , Alabama , almost half a century ago.  

            When I was growing up, my father worked for the International Red Cross on US Army bases, and we moved around a good bit in this country and overseas, in Germany.  Strange to say, of all of these moves the greatest culture shock came after our shortest move – less than one hundred miles, from Columbus, Georgia to Ozark, Alabama when I was ten years old.  Earlier I had experienced the difference between living in the segregated American south and a racially integrated army base abroad, and that was no great shock.  In fact, it was an exciting adventure that opened my eyes to new possibilities.  But the short move to Ozark was profoundly unsettling to me.

            The first day of school – a cold, late winter day, my mother took me to the principle’s office for registration.   There were a number of other kids in the office who looked pretty ragged.  Some of these poor kids – and they were poor - weren’t even wearing shoes on that bitter, cold day.  As my mother and I waited to get registered, we saw how the school staff was trying to help these kids without proper clothes.  This was the first time I had really left the comfortable economic realm of middle class America .  Sure, I had seen the abject poverty of the poor blacks through the car window as we drove through the countryside, but now I was in the midst of it, and it was unsettling.  These were to be some of my new classmates.

            This was in 1960, before most schools in the South had integrated, so these were poor white kids.  Undoubtedly, the level of poverty at the all black schools was much more extreme.  Ozark was a small town; there was only one set of schools for elementary, junior high and high school.   All white children from all economic backgrounds attended the same school.  Yet it was very cliquish and class stratified – a virtual caste system was in effect.  The poor kids did not mix socially with the others.  But there they were, right next to me, every day in class.  Ragged, woefully behind in their studies, the door of opportunity had already shut in their faces.  In fact, that door had never been open for most of them.   Harold was fifteen years old (he had failed several grades), smaller than us average sized ten year old fifth graders, and resigned to a life of poverty and illiteracy.  And a “blame the victim” mentality prevailed in that classroom.  Harold, and the others like him, were considered by teachers and fellow students to be so far behind because they had failed to apply themselves. Likewise, it was considered to be their parent’s fault that they were poor, and thus they deserved to be shunned and looked down upon.  After all, America was a free country, a land of equal opportunity.  

            The classroom appeared to be a level playing field for all of us students, but what was ignored was the personal foundation that each child stood upon as they entered the classroom. Harold and the other kids in poverty most likely came from homes where the vocabulary was quite limited, where intellectual exploration and initiative was not encouraged.  Their families had most likely internalized a sense of shame and inferiority and low expectation, and the motivation to change and improve one’s lot in life was minimal or nonexistent.  Most likely, since their parents did not believe in their own worth, they were less likely to be able to affirm and support their children.  Most likely the uncertainties of life, the stress, the fear, the frustration, the despair were much more pronounced than in the homes of other students and had a profoundly debilitating impact.  Most likely the parents could not help these children with their homework or even require them to do it.  Most likely Harold and the other children in poverty ate a poorly balanced diet that affected their physical and mental well being.  Most likely there were other stresses and strains such as I cannot imagine. 

            Yet when Harold and the other poor kids walked into the classroom they were given no special attention or extra help.  It was sink or swim, and burdened down with such heavy disadvantages, they sank – right to the bottom. 

            It is perilously easy it is for those who are well off to discount the sufferings and disadvantages of others, to harbor the suspicion that they are malingerers who just don’t try hard enough.  How easy it is for those who are blessed to imagine that they earned those blessings and forget that not everyone has the same advantages.  How tempting it is to believe that one’s own relative success is completely the result of one’s hard work and had nothing to do with the accident of birth.   

            Too often, how you are born influences how you will die.  People who live in poverty in America endure more stress, fear, uncertainty and frustration, and tend to have a poorer diet and inadequate medical and dental care.  Thus, those among us who live in poverty – which includes friends and members of our religious community - live shorter lives. 

Which makes me wonder about my former classmate Harold.  Frankly, it would not surprise me to hear that he has already died (he would be about sixty two).  Or I would certainly not be surprised to hear that he ended up in some prison, since a vastly disproportionate number of inmates in our country come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and we have the highest per capita prison population of any country in the world (our prison population has grown 650% since 1970).  If he is alive, unless he won the lottery, most likely he long ago resigned himself to a life of poverty.  

How tempting it is for a society to resign itself to the reality of poverty.  Occasionally idealistic people get all fired up about ending it.  Some of us here will remember that about forty years ago President Johnson declared a war on poverty, and many knowledgeable people said we really could win that war, but instead, the government soon decided it was more important to wage another literal war on the other side of the world in Viet Nam .  That futile war cost so much in blood and treasure that the war on poverty was never funded and fought.  So the level of poverty has remained fairly constant, although the economic gap between the rich and the poor has grown ever wider. 

The bible can, I must confess, be cited to reaffirm the status quo here.  In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John there is a story where Jesus rebukes those who have criticized a repentant woman for anointing him with nard, expensive ointment imported from the Himalayas .  They complain that this ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.  But Jesus says “What this woman has done is a good thing.  The poor will always be with you but my days are numbered.  You can take care of them later.”   Actually, bible scholars are pretty unanimous in their opinion that Jesus said no such thing, but that’s beside the point here.  The point is that the bible seems to accept the inevitability of poverty:  “The poor will ALWAYS be with you,” there’s no help for it, no changing this unfortunate state of affairs. 

Curiosity compelled me to probe a bit deeper into the biblical text and I discovered that this quote in the Christian scripture is actually an intentional echo of  Deuteronomy 15:11 in the Hebrew scripture where it is written:  “For the poor will never cease out of the land…”  But to cite these words in isolation is incomplete.   Just  seven verses earlier it is written: “For there will be no poor among you if only you obey the voice of the Lord your God…”   So that latter quote actually means that the poor will never cease out of the land as long as people fail to live in true covenant with one another, sharing freely and forgiving all debts every seven years – the sabbatical year when the scripture says the economic playing field is to become level again. 

Now I know we are not some theocratic state where we’re all on the same theological page, hearkening to the same divine commands, nor would we ever seriously consider having a sabbatical year every seven years to erase all debts as the bible commands us to do (I don’t believe we’ve heard the fundamentalists speak about this one).  Nevertheless, there are two vital messages in this text that ring true, regardless of your religious affiliation – we are called by the voice of compassion to create a social and economic system that leaves no one in poverty and this is possible if we open our hearts and minds to new ways of being. 

A good beginning is to examine this concept of “the poor.”  Archbishop Oscar Romero, the courageous social prophet and martyr from El Salvador said that to refer to “the poor” makes it seem as though this is some kind of a permanent social category.  He notes that it is more accurate and truthful not to speak of “the poor,” but rather to say “those made poor.”  

The most effective and cruelly efficient way society makes some poor is to begin the process from the moment someone is born.  If you are raised in the stressful, disadvantaged conditions of poverty, if you are implicitly taught to think of yourself as socially and economically inferior, if your teachers and others have low expectations for you, and if you see no opportunities to have a better life, then the outcome is fairly predictable – you will probably end up in poverty.  Thus, the vicious of cycle of poverty continues, generation after generation, and people who don’t care enough to look at this reality with open eyes and open hearts will shrug and say “Well, as it says in the bible, the poor will always be with us.” 

Those made poor are certainly here with us – as members of our congregation and as members of our community.  Salem-Keizer has the highest rate of poverty of any city in Oregon .  Most of those who live in poverty are employed, but a full time job with the legal minimum wage does not provide enough income to rise above the poverty level. 

There are many children in our community who are made poor.  One way to measure this is by looking at how many children in our school system receive free or partially subsidized lunches because they come from families who live in poverty.  How many such children are there in our community?  Well, our sanctuary, as it is currently set up, comfortably sits about 200.  Imagine filling this room 125 times in succession with children – that would be 25,000.  That’s a conservative estimate of how many children are made poor in our community. 

And whose children are they?  They are our children – the children of our community.

Do we say, “That’s unfortunate, but what can we do?  The poor will always be with us.”?  Or do we hear the voice of compassion calling us to respond?    As a congregation that choice is ours.  We do help already – with the soup kitchen, the interfaith shelter network, with our participation in the organization called Congregations Helping People.   But is there more for us to do?

Here are two thoughts:  We could join with others to advocate for a minimum wage that will lift many families out of poverty and address issues of economic justice through the legislative process.  We can work to alter the social and economic systems that allow conditions of economic inequality to persist. 

And, we can create special relationships with children in our community who are at risk.  Late last year I paid a visit to nearby Auburn Elementary school where I met the Principle, Vice Principle, and school counselor there to see if they could use some help from us.  They were thrilled to see me and said, “Yes, Of course we would like to form a special friendship with you.  We need after school tutors and mentors who will visit once a week for an hour to be friends with one special child.  We need guest readers and people who will come talk about their vocations.  We need volunteers who would help us clean up on school beautification day and help buy school supplies and glasses for the kids in need.”  And about 90% of the children at this school receive free or partially subsidized lunches.  Which means they live in poverty.  They will grow up in poverty.  We probably can’t change that.  But will they remain in poverty as adults?  Perhaps we can make a difference.  If you are interested please join us in discussing this after the service today.