Definition of Rich
The Bible talks a lot about the rich and the poor. The Bible never talks about the middle class. One is either rich or one is poor. There seems to be no in-between. This...
The Bible talks a lot about the rich and the poor. The Bible never talks about the middle class. One is either rich or one is poor. There seems to be no in-between. This...
I was recently asked to comment further on a statement that I made publicly about dealing with Unseen Greenville. I said that change requires dealing with structural and systems issues. The person who asked...
Simone Weil wrote in Waiting for God: “ I have the essential need… to move among of every class and complexion, mixing with them and sharing their life and outlook, so far that...
Protector of All Who Trust, be with people who suffer because they are different. Lead them to people who can celebrate their differences rather than denigrate them. Uplift them with pride in their uniqueness...
What defines a good act? According to Parker Palmer, good acts “are those that allow people the freedom to choose their own destinies.” (Active Life, p. 47) If we use this definition, how many...
In my previous blog posting, I wrote about the man that my husband Jim and I found lying beside a major thoroughfare. I have now talked with Nick Bush of United Ministries Place of...
On Saturday my husband Jim and I headed out in the car. As we passed the corner of Randall Street and Rutherford Road, Jim said, “There’s a guy lying in the grass over there.”...
I love taking an idea and playing with it. Putting questions, thoughts, and insights on paper to see how they develop and what I learn in the process is great pleasure for me. For...
When I was cleaning up some files, I found this quote. I don’t know who said it or where I got it from. “Most people…are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority...
With our area’s ice, sleet, snow, and below normal temperatures, many things have come to a halt. Schools, childcare facilities, medical practices, businesses, service organizations, and churches have been closed or opened only for...
Sometimes life just throws you a curve ball. You are expecting certain schedules, happenings, relationships. Your well-considered plans simply cannot materialize. The weather may not allow you to go on the hike or bike...
This ran as a guest editorial by me in the Greenville News on Sunday, December 14, 2014. I have worked in the poverty field for more than thirty years. I am passionate about all...
I recently revisited some articles I wrote for the newsletter at United Ministries when I still worked there. This scenario from December 2007 touched me once again. Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. Many of...
Here is an excerpt from Angelika’s Journal. She and her mother and brother are now staying in a shelter. December 20 Today was our last day of school before the winter break. I’m sad...
“Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism,” says Walter Brueggeman in The Prophetic Imagination. Compassion says that I feel what you feel, I experience the human frailty that you experience. The powers-that-be cannot allow...
John-Paul Flintoff, author of How to Change the World, was interviewed in the March/April 2013 issue of The Optimist. He had been active in world changing organizations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the...
I ran into Gloria today whom I first met as an addicted, homeless prostitute. I was thrilled to learn that she has been working the same job for nine years. She goes to church...
I told a friend about my mantra verse for all these years of working in poverty: Matthew 10:16 where Jesus is teaching the disciples before sending them out. He says, “Be ye wise as...
Simone Weil wrote in Waiting for God: “I have the essential need… to move among of every class and complexion, mixing with them and sharing their life and outlook, so far that is...
This week I was in Roswell, Georgia,to present workshops to both Roswell Presbyterian Church and to nonprofits who partner with the host organization, HomeStretch, a vital nonprofit that works with families for 12-18 months...