Poverty and Abundance Study “Action Group”
Dennis Carignan
During last year’s canvass we asked people what their vision for
our Church was and got some exciting feedback. One repeated theme was
to create a spirit of giving from a feeling of abundance. Another theme
was to make the Church a vehicle to help others outside the Church. This
year, our minister, Karen, invited the congregation to participate in
a series of conversations about poverty and abundance that would eventually
lead to one or a series of projects…another way for our community
to reach out and grow spiritually as members of the intricate web of
life.
Over sixteen of us have participated in some or all of these conversations
and we have come to understand a little more about how we feel about
poverty and abundance. So we thought we would share with you what has
been going on both to inform you and perhaps to inspire you to join us
in some of our efforts as they unfold.
In the first meeting we did some group work to explore our feelings
on the issues of both poverty and abundance. We shared our experiences
and feelings both about not having enough and feeling as though we had
too much. Although the facts of our stories varied many of us were quite
amazed to see how similar our feelings about these issues were. Feelings
of shame, anger, secrecy and isolation were expressed. We also talked
about acting on our beliefs and found that we needed to act from a place
of respect and strength and that we needed to act together and not in
isolation.
In our second meeting we did some brainstorming about “Why people
are poor?” and “How poverty affects people”. We discussed
the many vulnerabilities poverty exposes people to and how these can
create a downward spiral of problems leading to low self esteem leading
to more problems…….
In our third meeting we began by discussing our beliefs
about money and explored the difference between charity and the just
distribution
of resources. We concluded that although Charity is a vehicle to help
people with needs and a way to help people open their hearts and share,
it does not address the unjust distribution of resources and can even
foster a separateness between those who have more and those who have
less. We concluded that “This is why we look at doing something
as a faith community that will address just distribution of resources---to
respond to poverty in the midst of abundance in a way that builds community
and affects the unjust system in which we live.”
The awareness developed in these meetings stirred some feelings and
got us all thinking, but many of us were wondering just what we could
do about it. In our last meeting while exploring what actions we could
take and what criteria they should meet that some great ideas surfaced
and the lights began to come on for many of us. Donna Beveridge shared
her experiences with a the Time/dollar network and we began to see how
this could meet the criteria we had established and how it could be applied
to many very exciting areas. As we talked, we developed such a frenzy
of excitement, that we decided that it was time to drop the anchor for
a while and explore the exciting possibilities.
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