I've been in a course on poverty and the holy spirit for the last two days with jackie Pullinger (if you haven't read her bio you really should it's a classic - Chasing The Dragon... ).
Anyway, she said ALOT of interesting things but here is a nugget I've been thinking alot about:
she said you need two things to work with the poor:
1. Patience: and by this she means in the concept of the sowing and reaping of the Kingdom principle... that we have to sow before we reap and that it's about believing in God to be faithful to his promises... nothing else you can do but be faithful to yours.. she talked about how the opposite of patience isn't impatience but unbelief (in this concept)... and also threw in a bit about how when it's time to reap it wasn't just you who has sown (but to credit the other believers and people who have gone before you to prepare the ground)...
2. Impatience: this was a classic one... she said (and I can testify) that you don't have to hang out with the oppressed or the poor for very long before you have a deep impatience for the reign of God... this is right. We should be impatient for the things of the Kingdom that the poor need... freedom, sight, provision, etc... and that impatience ought to drive us into the heart of God and the word of God and a willingness to lay hold of heaven for earth...
on this last note she mentioned that the natural impatience of working with the poor (for God's kingdom to come) can lead us two ways: one is to the Kingdom (to be willing to look foolish and hold out for transforming power) or the other is to create another theology that allows us to accept things as they are (I couldn't help but think about harm reduction here...).
anyway, she's a legend.. and even more than that God is good.
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