On Saturday I picked up the  book Nickel and Dimed written by Barbara Ehrenreich from the library.  I am currently in the middle of reading it.

The book was conceived, researched and writtne between 1998 and 2001.  If you will remember this was boom time in the US and the time of the Republican Revolution in the House of Representatives.  On of the very common topics then was that welfare mothers should be encouraged to work.   Encouragement was a euphemism for forced.

In that atmosphere the author decided to see if it was possible for a welfare mother to get an entry level job and "make the rent."  So she picked three cities, and traveled to the city and looked for an apartment and a job without leaning on her actual work experience, education, etc.

I've finished the second chapter about her month in Maine.  I have been thoroughly engrossed by the book.  To be honest it is a piercing story and makes me feel completely lazy.  After all, here I am in writing about a a book I'm reading in the middle of my work day.

I have had a great concern for the situation the poor find themselves in, which is why I picked up the book, but it has opened my eyes to more of the reality of their situation.  One of the deadly things about our culture is the insulation we have from each other.  It is this insulation that is critical to the success of the whole enterprise I think, but it makes us all less human.  We are unable to see each other and our situations.

I haven't finished the book and don't know what I will do in response, but rest assured that it will have lasting impact on the way I live.

I also wanted to share my sadness at the portrayal of the church in Maine.  Not because I think her portrayal was inaccurate, but precisely because of its truth.  There are caveats that could be argued in the church's defense, but ultimately we, speaking for my fellow Christians, need to own up to our blindness to the poor.

Honestly, I am a Christian because of Jesus.  There are so many layers to that, but a big part of it is the way he treated the poor and his promise that in the coming of his kingdom the social order will be turned on its head.  Maybe I said the backwards, it is because the kingdom will be upside down that he cared for the poor.  And he commanded his disciples to "Follow Me!"  I want to take that command seriously.