Sunday March 2

This morning we served breakfast to the residents of the shelters (there is an emergency shelter and two longer term shelters - all for women and children only) and then we ate with them.  After breakfast we went out and helped serve meals and spent time "being with" folks who came off the street needing a hot meal.  There was music, food and fellowship.  Then we joined the City of Refuge community for their Sunday church service.  It was a busy morning!  We had some free time in the afternoon so we ate lunch at the infamous Atlanta restaurant "The Varsity" and then we enjoyed the warm, sunny afternoon outdoors at Stone Mountain Park.  We joined the residents for dinner, then spent some time with the kids singing karaoke and having a dance party.  In the last 30 hours we have been welcomed quickly into the City of Refuge community - there have been lots of smiles, hugs and stories shared.

This evening our reflection focused on poverty.

What is poverty?  Lack of freedom and disempowerment?  Entanglement in a cluster of disadvantage?  There are several types of poverty:  material (few assets), physical (illness/poor health), social (no access to services and information), political (lack of knowledge and influence), and spiritual (broken relationships).

What causes poverty?  The nature of poverty is RELATIONAL...poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just.  This may include relationships with others, or relationships between societal systems and individuals.  Brokenness (being dishonest, hurtful, intentionally marginalizing, etc.) causes relationships that do not work and in turn, broken relationships cause poverty.

Being the non-poor does not mean we do not have poverty.  You may have material wealth, but may experience spiritual poverty.  An overabundance of material goods or power can mirror the lack of those things that the poor experience; too much OR too little can cause broken relationships.  We all may experience poverty, it is just be differently expressed.

Things to think about:
*The different types of poverty
*The relational nature of poverty
*Our own experiences with different types of poverty
*We are engaging with the homeless to learn about their relationships, our own poverty and how this can transform both them and us

We may not be able to fix the relationships that are broken, but we hope that by establishing trust with those we meet this week we can create new relationships as well as a sense of hope and optimism for each of us.