December 12, 2011

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

We have a food pantry at Logan. On Sunday morning 16 people came to the church to get a bag of groceries and a $15 Acme card with which to buy perishables. Only once or twice in my 10 years here has any of the people stayed for worship or had any other connection with the church. They are almost always pleasant and friendly (one brought me a Christmas present yesterday) though given the chance they often share stories from their lives that are heartbreaking. What is the good news that God is proclaiming to these poor? Given the range of poverty in the world these folks aren’t at the bottom of the scale. They have homes and access to cars and phones while many in the third world will not survive the year. But they are poor for our society and none of us would trade places with them. All this is to raise the issue of what the birth of Jesus means to the world of the poor. As the song asks, “do they know its Christmas time at all?” As followers of the savior born in Bethlehem at Christmas, what is the good news of God we have to proclaim to the poor?

Don