In his book, Learning to Dream Again: Rediscovering the Heart of God, Samuel Wells (no relation!) has a chapter in which he deals with two very important questions. He raises these questions in the broad context of the Book of Genesis and some of the relationships that are presented in those mythic accounts. In fact, it is not he who raises them; the texts themselves raise them.
The first question is asked of Adam and Eve in the Garden. The second is asked of Cain after he killed Abel, his brother. Wells, the Vicar of the Anglican Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, deals with the questions in the context of Israel’s life, of family life, and of our own relationship to God. He has some keen insights. My concerns, while reflecting some of his, push out in directions that, while not unrelated to his, press us into some new territory.
The authors of these ancient accounts have God asking the questions. The first is asked in the Garden after the first couple ate the forbidden fruit. You know the story (Genesis 3:9). They discovered themselves to be naked, ashamed, vulnerable, and afraid. They hid. The question came: “Where are you?”
The second question came after a bloody altercation between Cain and Abel, fueled by anger and jealousy, which left Abel dead (Genesis 4:9). With blood dripping from his hands, the question was posed to Cain by God: “Where is your brother?”
Two questions: “Where are you?” and “Where is your brother/sister?” Two questions. The answers, in the biblical stories, are quite simple: for the first,‘hiding’ and for the second, ‘dead.’
The first question: “Where are you?” One of the many ways to approach this question might be through the eyes of Richard Rohr’s little book: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. Rohr, a Franciscan priest and author of more than twenty books on spiritual journeying, suggests that we have two halves to our lives. The first is getting to know who we are; building the ‘container’ as it were (to use Rohr’s language). Identity is being shaped and we head off to do wonderful things. The second part of the journey is determining what we will put in those ‘containers.’ That second half includes the ability to accept loss and failure, and then renewal and transformation. He argues that the natural mind is dualistic: good and bad, right and wrong. It often cannot process love or suffering and will try to avoid them. We are the poorer.
While both halves are necessary, we sometimes never get to the second half. We argue that the old wineskins are adequate contrary to Jesus’ affirmation that they are not. Thus, says Rohr, while change and growth are key to our spirituality, we often want things to remain as they are and thus we tend to protect the status quo. Sometimes even religious beliefs, unfortunately, contribute to our keeping of the status quo: the ‘prosperity gospel’, the human growth model, or what he calls ‘the soft religion of easy consolations.’ Thus we miss the next stage that God has for us. The new life that beckons us is filled with change, sometimes failure, but also with newness of life and resurrection here and now.
Thus when the question is asked: “Where are you?” an honest response from many of us, if we dare make one at all, is ‘hiding.’
The second question is “Where is your brother / sister?” My goodness, that question can take us many places: the plight of the Palestinians under occupation, state legislatures making it harder for people to vote (primarily from minority communities), gun violence in our nation, slave trafficking of young girls, and on and on. But for this blog, a word on child poverty and malnutrition.
The Children’s Defense Fund has listed the 13 US states that have child poverty rates above 25%. (Poverty is defined as an annual income below $23,492 for the average family of four). Top on the list is Mississippi with a rate of 34.7%, with Florida the best of this sorry lot with a rate of 25.4%!1
According to the Poor People’s United Fund, the number of homeless families in Massachusetts (read single moms with kids) seeking shelter in hotels and motels is hitting an all-time high of 2,038. But imagine it: the location of many of these motels is near a highway and most do not have a car; there are no supermarkets to buy food and no cooking is allowed except on a hot plate. Children that are malnourished lack the nutrients needed for proper health and development. That leads to all kinds of diseases as well as stunted growth. Further, the harsh reality is that one in seven people in our state rely on food stamps. Those food stamps help feed many children.2 In light of all of this the MA Legislature is considering a bill that would require recipients of cash benefits to get a photo ID card which, according to the ACLU, would further stigmatize people who receive government assistance and single out poor shoppers to store clerks. Even further, applicants requesting help would have to verify their job search without some help being provided for transportation and childcare in order to engage in that search.3 Such legislation certainly does not help.
So, when the question is asked: “Where is your brother / sister / children?” an honest response from our society, if it dares make one at all, is “hungry, malnourished, with some even moving toward starvation.”
Two questions. Two very difficult questions. Samuel Wells suggests that they are two of the most important questions that will ever be asked of us as individuals and as a society. Two questions. Just two.
1For the full list, see The Christian Century, October 30, 2013 issue, p. 9
2Data is from the fall, 2013 Newsletter, Poor People’s United Fund, Boston
3MA House Ways and Means Welfare Bill (H3737)