can we see?

over the past few weeks my morning readings have been centering on the book of john. i have always been found of the gospel of john because it shares a vision of our walk in faith that should center on how we see Jesus in our lives - now, all the gospels do that, but john always spoke to me at a deeper level - and reading it in "the message" has been even more powerful.

this morning i was reading chapter 9, while attending a poverty summit in san fransisco and i was struck by the reality of the blind man - one of the things that struck me was that after he was healed, many doubted he was who he said he was - they accused him of "just looking like" the other man. this got me to thinking about how little we pay attention to those on the margins of our society. we see them, but we never truly look at them.

as i was walking along powell watching as people would pass by those who most never even gave a glance at, or a tip of the head, or even the slightest sign that they knew the person was alive - i was wondering how we were doing on this "war on poverty?" with most people not even looking at those sitting on the edges of society how can we say we are ready to fight a war? if all we do is walk past those in poverty, can we actually say we are doing everything we can? [now, before i get to deep into this, please do not misquote the scripture where Jesus says "the poor will aways be with you." i have had too many people use that to justify not giving to those in need, and that is a complete misuse of that scripture.] so, how do we fight the war on poverty?

i believe the first thing we need do is look at those in poverty in the eye and say, "we have missed looking at you and we are sorry" - then, and only after we see that they are humans, can we truly start fighting the fight - because then we see them as people worth fighting for.