Rich and Poor Together
On my twenty-minute walk to and from walk, I pass by a lot of new development. University City is booming, no matter how you slice it. The Cira Centre rises up behind me as I begin my trek home. Depending on which route I take home, I might pass by developments in process (like the new retail/residential project on 40th and Chestnut) or recently completed (like the new library branch on 40th and Walnut). There's no question University City is sizzling hot.
But there's also no question that there is a fair amount of poverty amidst all this progress. Today, I passed by not one, not two, but three homeless people ranting to themselves. There are certain blocks where the sidewalks are cracked, weed-infested, and strewn with trash. As I get further away from the PENN campus and closer to my house, the caliber of the retail and the condition of the housing deteriorates.
Some are oblivious to the poor in our midst, and that's a shame, for those among us who are poor ought neither be an invisible group nor one we seek to brush away. Others are too aware, so outraged that such indigence could exist in the midst of such wealth that the only logical solution must be radical upheaval.
My read of the Bible indicates that neither the rich nor the poor are especially favored by God, despite what the "health and wealth" people might say on one side and the "liberation theology" people might say on the other. My read of the Bible does convince me that material abundance can be a blessing or a curse, and material scarcity the same. It also convinces me of the beauty of the economically rich and the economically poor living together in community, of the obligation and opportunity of those who are economically rich to economically enrich those who are economically poor, and of the danger of one's economic riches or economic poverty making one spiritually and morally and socially poor.
There's a lot of food for thought in the Bible when it comes to socio-economic issues. The challenge and choice for those of us who live in University City, of course, is that it's not just what we think but what we're going to do.
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