The Judge
Like most churches, we occasionally receive requests for money from people in our community. I suspect I am not alone when I say that I have come to dread these calls. It’s not that I don’t think that the church should help people in need, or that I resent the “intrusion” on my time or anything like that. I am simply growing increasingly uncomfortable with my role as the judge of the “worthiness” or “legitimacy” of this or that request for assistance.
It’s not that I don’t understand the need for discernment. Our church, like many others, has been taken for a ride. Our church, like many others, has dealt with a number of, shall we say “creative” requests for money that were rather transparent exercises in deception and manipulation. Everyone has heard stories like this. Nobody wants funds to be directed in unhelpful directions when there are better places they could go. Everyone wants to be “good stewards” of what God has given us. And so, we institute policies and checks and balances and forms to fill out and questions to ask and assurances to request, etc, etc to protect ourselves from being taken advantage of.
I get all of this. I really do. But the experience of making those decisions, of deciding who is “worthy” and who is not, is unsettling to put it mildly. Just this week, I found myself on the other end of the phone, asking all kinds of questions that I couldn’t imagine answering myself—questions ranging from describing the nature of their predicament to how they would use the funds to how their story could be verified to what their plans for the future looked like. It felt like an interrogation, and I felt guilty having to ask.
In this case, the judge decided to be “merciful” and to grant the request. All of the relevant factors were carefully weighed and measured and a “just” decision was rendered. How magnanimous of me. So why did it feel so empty, standing in front of the hotel room door, graciously offering my grocery card—this feeble token of piety or remorse or self-righteousness or all of the above? Why did it feel so hollow trying to force awkward conversation with a person who I desperately wanted to relate to as an equal, but who probably only saw me as a vending machine even as I probably viewed them, however implicitly, as a vehicle for assuaging the guilt that comes with privilege.
One of the cities we visited while I was in Colombia a few weeks back was Sincelejo, where we spent an evening with a church comprised entirely of displaced people. We shared a wonderful meal together, heard the story of their church, sang songs, and prayed together. As we were getting ready to leave, one of the women went to the back and brought out some jewelry that she had made as part of their church’s efforts to teach skills that could be used to support themselves and their families. Most knew only farming, and were having a tough time adjusting to city life. The church was doing what it could to address this by offering classes on gardening, jewelry making, art, crafts, etc.
What she showed us was a beautiful set of earrings with a matching necklace. I instantly thought, “my daughter would love that!” and asked her if they were for sale. She told me the price and I gave her a few dollars more than she asked. I left feeling very pleased with myself. For about 5 minutes. Then I felt the same kind of emptiness that I felt this past week at the hotel door. The same sense that an unbridgeable gap existed between my privilege and her need. The same queasy feeling that I—white, blessed, wealthy, compassionate, entitled, powerful—had rendered my verdict and my verdict was good. Her cause was worthy. Legitimate. She got her money—quite a generous amount, I not-so-humbly concluded—and I got my good feeling. Everyone wins.
Right?
Rumblings 
Thanks for sharing this. I was especially struck by the church you visited in Colombia. Responding to need is rarely easy. I doubt if there is any such thing as ‘simple’ hospitality, for example. I worked for years with homeless people and struggled with ways to respond to need on the one hand and maintain dignity on the other. I helped to develop a voucher scheme called MegaBite which offered an ethical response to begging: http://radref.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/token-solutions.html
In old fashioned terms it would be a ministry of almsgiving, but we gave it something of a contemporary spin. The scheme is still in use and meeting need. It won’t solve homelessness but it is at least direct and effective. Shalom, Phil
Thanks for this, Phil. I appreciated your post—some very creative ways of dealing with some of the problems around “helping” those in need. It is good to hear stories like this.
Re: Why did it feel so hollow trying to force awkward conversation with a person who I desperately wanted to relate to as an equal, but who probably only saw me as a vending machine even as I probably viewed them, however implicitly, as a vehicle for assuaging the guilt that comes with privilege.
What a great sentence. Reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald in its irony.
A couple of days ago in a bike shop, another customer spoke to me about his anger towards a thief who stole his bike while parked outside a bank. (He was in the bank asking for a loan.) He was in the bike store having a new bike rack installed on his new bike when he started a conversation, a rant really, with me. He was hard to understand. He had no teeth. But I did hear him say that he was homeless. He cursed a lot. He told me about fights with others, and how others better not mess with him. He asked me for a dollar.
When he left the bike mechanic told me that they seem him often at the store. The mechanic said he appears to have plenty of money and not be really homeless, but that he is always angry. His bicycle is a good one.
And so I wonder what I encountered that day, or whom.
I was having trouble eliminating the squeal in my wife’s bike brakes. The store manager worked on it. He did not charge me, but could have. The economy of life is irrational. We will be merciful to whom we will be merciful.
Indeed. Well said.
My husband, having worked with the homeless for over 20 years, never gives money to people who ask. We prefer to support organizations that help the homeless. In a city like Calgary, there is no one who can’t access medical care, shelter, 3 decent meals, all the clothing they can carry around, plus many other supports. They really don’t need to be asking for money to meet there basic needs. Some people do church rounds to see how much they can make. Giving them small handouts all the time just keeps them on the street. The Mustard Seed offers housing only if people are willing to take their programs, to take responsibility for their lives, and move in a more positive direction. As far as the woman with the necklace and earrings, I assume she made them. You didn’t give her a handout. You gave her her dignity by purchasing something beautiful she created. You probably made her feel proud and happy. Yes, you’re rich and she’s poor, but you don’t need to feel guilty about what you did there. You should feel good. God is so gracious. He probably smiled at that whole transaction.