The vast majority of Americas have heard of poverty. It is the state of poor people or perhaps even it is or was us or me. The line of who is in poverty and who isn’t often exists unconsciously in our minds. Wherever that division is, we classify people accordingly. Certainly, it is a line people who are above it don’t personally want to cross, from not in poverty to in poverty. On the other hand, those in poverty would love to cross over because being in poverty is being poor, very poor. But how can we move beyond our assumptions about what poverty is and to what it means for us as people of faith? 

Elizabeth laid out some definitions and important ideas in her blog introducing Poverty as BFJN’s focus for this year. Her blog alluded to the US Government’s definition of the poverty line. I think it is helpful to explore the line in the sand of poverty created by the US government. Despite the line being relatively arbitrary and difficult to define like a line in the sand, it drives policies and our perceptions. 

According to the US government, people are living in poverty if they must spend at least 1/3 of their money to get the minimum diet to survive (a diet labeled “designed for temporary or emergency use”). It is assumed that if people spend at least that much on survival food, they are struggling to pay for other things too. It was created to be “a conservative underestimate” of who is living in poverty. In other words, a line had to be drawn somewhere. So, let’s grab a sick and trace a line so clearly low that we are certain everyone below it is poor and in need. There are absolutely people above the poverty line who are also struggling to survive. This is especially true because the poverty line is national. It is not adjusted for different costs of living in rural areas versus large urban centers – like overpriced Boston. To remind you, even with this imperfect measure, there are approximately 40 million or at least 10% of Americans living in poverty. 

A great way to conceptualize this group is to think of Poverty as if it were the 51st state, or Poverty, USA. This is portrayed well on this video and site by the same name. Poverty, USA was created by the Catholic Church to highlight and mobilize people around the issue of poverty.  The people in poverty are so much more than a number. Their life in poverty is more than the lack of certain things. It is the struggle, the anxiety, the fear they experience daily. The pain of not seeing the doctor. The shame of not having enough to feed children. We can debate why they ended up that way, and that debate is important for stopping the flow of people into poverty. However, I think it is critical to pause and really imagine or inhabit the struggle of people in poverty, not just in the US, but globally.  

The World Bank estimates there are 700 million in poverty (less than two dollars a day) on planet Earth. That is basically two entire United States of people living in poverty. If you were to group them all together it would be an anguishing place to visit. But of course, like Poverty, USA, people in poverty aren’t all in one place. They are here and there. Often in the background or simply where we choose not to see. Take this picture, for example. 

I found this photo by typing in poverty on Unsplash. It captures a poor mother and daughter in South America, location unknown. I have two- and four-year-old daughters. I see the comfort and love between these two and quickly jump to thinking about my own family. This woman and child clearly don’t have a lot. Their chair is makeshift. Their appearance is a bit disheveled. Yet, their humanity is unmistakable. The numbers of people in poverty represent real people. Real people! People like those in this picture. People who we often live our lives in complete or willful ignorance of. I like this picture because NOT knowing the back story has caused me to stop and think about them and their struggle more. However, there are more complete stories. For example, this blog by Bill Gates includes 2-3 minute segments with people sharing about surviving on less than $2 a day in different countries around the world. These stories are powerful! To see and hear about how people so far from us and yet not so different are living their lives on the edge. 

Back to America, we might see people in need on the news or begging on street corners. But we are less and less likely to see them in our churches. The increasing divide in our society leads to increasing distance physically and socially between us and the least of these. Recognizing that we need to take a deliberate approach to thinking about them and their struggle is what I am advocating for. We should want to get to know them and how to come alongside them. Jesus was not silent on this topic. 

Matthew 25:41-45 NIV

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Our actions or inaction directly relate to our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbor. God identifies with the least of these. The least of these are out there, it is up to us to look for them, advocate for them, and ally with them. This blog won’t get into how to solve poverty. However, my aim has been to humanize the statistics of people who live in poverty and to begin to help us see how our faith calls us to action because of our love for God and our neighbor. If we don’t invest any time or effort to think about people in poverty, to dwell on their struggle, nothing will change. It won’t change for them. And we won’t change to be more like our God who cares deeply for them.