When Did We See You? | The Poor People's Campaign

Friends,

Four people in line to sworn in as citizens in Boston today were pulled out of line and told they could not continue because of the countries they came from. People who came here legally, followed the steps for citizenship, and were approved. I wanted to write about this, but cannot find the words.

Instead I have words on the Magnificat.

-Liz

Magnificat

Advent, a season of waiting. I remember the shocking discovery, as I poured over advent scriptures from the lectionary, that it isn't Christmas we are waiting for in this season. We are waiting for the fulfillment of what Jesus promised. The Kingdom of God began with Jesus. (At his birth, baptism, or resurrection depending on your theology.) And now we spend this season, every year, waiting for it to be completed, to be fully present. For some that would mean we are waiting for Christ's second coming.

Mary proclaims "The Lord has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. The Lord has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53.)

Mary can see that this is about to happen, but it seems a long time in coming. Do we really believe it is on it's way?

I did a bible study at a small church in a rural area where we read Jesus' birth story in detail. And one woman, reaching this part of the Magnificat asked indignantly "who put that in there?" She could not believe there were these words from Mary were in the bible.

And while I was surprised she hadn't heard them before, don't most of us wonder how these words got in there? What do they mean about our life now? Who is it that will be brought down, and isn't it mean to send the rich away empty? Is this really what God is saying?

Is this meant to be a metaphor, or is the coming of Jesus really about the bringing down rulers and lifting up poor people?

And if it is God's message how did we come to this age where Christianity is big in the world, but lifting up poor people is not? How did we come to this age of strongmen (mostly men) on many thrones? What hope do the humble have in this age?

Wealth and poverty are tough topics for Christians to explore in the United States. Most of us would not describe ourselves as wealthy, so perhaps we feel protected from these texts. Those that are outrageously wealthy have enough to solve poverty, so perhaps Luke is only critiquing them.

And yet many of us have resources in excess of what we need to get by. And we have this excess in a time when many others do not have enough. Surely we have some obligation to Jesus, and to Mary, to wrestle with these words Mary offers.

I do not have simple answers to the questions this text raises. But I do have a new book: When Did We See You: A Lenten Reflection of Poverty & Wealth. It is coming out January 1 and gets at these very questions. What does it mean to be middle class reading scriptures about wealth and poverty? What does it mean to have savings and investments, and for churches to have endowments?

We are not yet done with Advent but I am thinking about the Lenten studies you might do next winter. You might consider your connection to God and to what we have, or don't have, how that might weaken, or strengthen that connection.

I hope you give my book a look.

Will you preach on the magnificat? Will you ponder Mary's words? What is the good news you hold onto? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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The Lenten Study will be available January 1 but you can pre-order here or on bookshop.org. (The link is slow but will come up.)

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The Poor People's Campaign is a National Call for a Moral Revival. Our religious faiths call us to take political action to protect those who are poor.

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