Considering the "least of these"

Our Outreach Ministries Director, Rick Rutter, recently left Water Street to begin a new adventure as a small business owner (Quick shameless plug: When you just gotta have a quality cheesesteak, sub, or wrap visit Bubba's Breakaway on Lincoln Highway East).

Before departing, Rick helped us develop a new strategy for how we can do our Outreach Ministries (providing food, clothing, and furniture to families and individuals in need) in a compassionate and empowering manner. He also laid the groundwork for future partnerships with churches and other agencies so that we can serve the community together in a way that builds the kingdom. Part of his process in developing this strategy was taking time to think about, study, and discuss with others issues related to poverty, the poor, and what a biblical response to those in need really looks like.

Before he just tells us all the answers (just kidding), we thought some of you might want to wrestle with some of these questions yourself. Rick has organized some of his thoughts and questions in a semi-devotional format. We'll be posting it here in 5 parts over the next few weeks. If you're up for a challenging exercise, give these studies a try. Here's #1:

How do I see the poor?
Polar opposites in Scripture include:

• Job 16:1-5, 10-11; How do I respond to another in crisis? Empty words? Lip service in the name of encouragement – remember that the friends started out with good intentions. Blaming others for their circumstances? Judgmental and condemning? Do I make the poor feel defensive? Do I make them feel even more guilt and shame than they probably feel coming to me for help in the first place? Have I replaced (or am I doing) Satan’s work in eroding another’s confidence and moving them further from the kingdom of God?
• Luke 7:36-50; Am I so certain of my own poverty, my own sinfulness, and my own need for forgiveness that I respond out of humility and love? Do I embrace others as true co-heirs (or potential co-heirs) created in the Imagio Deo – the very same image of the very same God who loves them the very same that He died the very same death to spend the very same eternity with us?
• Pharisee or forgiven, condemning or consoling, executioner or encourager? How will I see the poor today?
• Father, remove the scales from my eyes and turn my heart of stone to a heart of flesh that I might see and be Jesus today to the people that you bring across my path… Amen