Blessed is the one who considers the poor

I spent the summer of 1991 as a volunteer youth worker running a day camp at the First Church of Love, Faith and Deliverance in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia.  There were ten of us ministering out of our church, and about a dozen similar teams around the city.  I worked with the first graders.  Wonderful kids.  Three of them worked their way into my heart and have been a part of my prayer life ever since.

One Saturday toward the end of summer, our team took a bus downtown to see the city.  We spent some time walking down sixth street, I think it was; sort of a trendy, uptown sort of place with interesting shops.  I remember wandering into a few stores with my friends.  None of us had much money, but it was fun to hang out with this great group of people I had spent two months living and working with.

Toward the end of our afternoon, my team turned into one particular shop, but I stayed outside to wait.  I think my interest in window shopping had waned, and it was a beautiful day.  I had one dollar on my person – bus fare back to our neighborhood.  I noticed a man sitting on the sidewalk nearby, panhandling.  We were both alone waiting on the sidewalk, so I said hello and introduced myself, apologizing that I didn’t have anything to give him as I needed my one dollar bus fare.  What happened next changed the direction of my life.

The stranger I had just met said, “Mike, that is OK.  You stopped to talk with me.  You recognized me here and took time to introduce yourself.”  Then he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a ragged Gideon New Testament, the little pocket version with the Psalms and Proverbs at the end.  He flipped to Psalm 41:1 and read “Blessed is the one who considers the poor!  In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land.”  He thanked me and blessed me with a smile and a friendly handshake.

The aftermath of that few minute exchange on a Philadelphia sidewalk was far-reaching, is still far-reaching.  Personally, it was a prophetic confirmation of a growing call to spend myself on behalf of the hungry.  It remains a mysterious signpost for me, this seemingly chance encounter.  But more importantly, it re-defined the meaning of this calling, re-defined perhaps how I considered the poor.  I still move and act in a highly abstract realm, life is not terribly different for me day to day.  I have to remind myself from time to time of the purpose of the work – trying to increase the productivity of seeds being grown by the poorest farmers in the world, hoping the effort yields additional grain for food and income.  The work itself is complex and scientific, with workplace dynamics and donor requirements and intercultural exchanges.  But the beauty of this promise from Psalm 41 has never lost its profound impact: consider the poor, recognize the person in front of you and introduce yourself.  Regardless of what you can or cannot do for him or her in the external, you can always give dignity and respect and consideration.

And you never know what unbelievably valuable things they may give you in return.