Thinking Inside the Box

Jeremiah 31:27-34

1 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

Ok, I must start this sermon with a confession.  You see I have a problem that has plagued me and my loved ones all of my life.  I am a whiner.  I whine about almost anything.  Those close to me (Beloved Partner, my best friend , my family, my cat) tolerate it well although some in my life have established ground rules.  Beloved has graciously asked me to wait a half an hour after she comes home from work before I start whining and that I do not whine the half hour before she goes asleep.  My cat wonderful listener that he is has made it clear that he’d rather party then hear me whine.    

I whine because I am a diva.  Really I am. I earned this illustrious title in seminary when I went on a mission trip to Guatemala with my seminary colleagues in 2005.  This title was given to me because of my varied reactions to staying in youth hostels and having to share one bathroom with 12 other women, if there was a bathroom to be had.  These kinds of living conditions are a bit of a stretch for a woman whose idea of camping out is staying in a hotel where they don’t put a mint on my pillow at night. 

So you can imagine my reaction when I was asked to stay out all night in a cardboard box in front of the state capital on a brisk October night in order to raise awareness about homelessness in our city.  Yes, that happened in 2008.  At first I thought it was a good idea, it would be an opportunity to participate in an act of protest in solidarity with folks who are homeless or were formerly homeless and it would also be a time to bond with other advocates for the homeless under the starry night skies of Small City, New England State.  Sure this is a stretch for a diva like myself to be sleep in a box; however I have been known to be a good sport and “to take one for the team.”

So I signed up to participate in the event called “Gimme Shelter”.  However, as the date of the event grew closer and closer my anxiety got higher and higher.  Also the weather got colder and colder and to top it all off it rained everyday that week until that Friday night on October 12th at 6:00 pm.  So I decided to get all my whining out of my system the week prior to the event so that I would be a brave little pastor at the event.  I whined to beloved, I whined to my collegues, I even whined from the pulpit pleading for prayers and sponsorships, (which worked by the way).  I whined up until I packed my little cardboard box and sleeping bag into my car and drove to the State Capital to participate in this event.  We aren’t talking about the persistence of the widow in the bible story saying, “Grant me justice.”  Rather we are talking about a homeless advocate pleading, “God if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”

I wish I could say that it was not that bad sleeping in the box but it was bad.  It was cold and wet.  It was noisy and I didn’t feel all that safe.  I got claustrophobic trying to sleep inside this teeny tiny box through the night and I spent most of the night pulling the tarp on and off the box so that I could breath.  At about two o’clock in the morning I saw an odd shaped shadow outside my box and I got very scared.  I lifted the tarp slowly and saw that it was a pug puppy out for a walk sniffing the boxes. The owner of the pug was apologetic and because of the cuteness of the puppy I was forgiving.  Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that night and so all I could do was be silent and think inside the box.  I tried to ease my fear and chill by thinking of ways to get through the night and the thing that kept playing through my mind over and over again was I’ll be home tomorrow morning in my bed, with my blankets over me and my cat at my side.  Unfortunately for people who struggle with homelessness they don’t have this saving grace.  All kidding aside, I can’t imagine how anyone can live this way from day to day.  It is cold, it is uncomfortable, and it is not safe.  The night that I spent thinking inside the box transformed me. 

I had spent years working with the homeless but I did not know first hand what it is like to be homeless.  In many ways still I don’t know what it is like to be homeless, however now I know what it is like to sleep outdoors on a sidewalk in unlivable conditions.  Prior to this night I had thought sleeping out in the streets was like camping…it is not.  Prior to that night I was tempted to believe the myth that people who are chronically homeless choose to be that way…I now know from my personal experience that this is not true!  There is no way on God’s green earth anyone would choose to sleep night in and night out in the conditions that I slept in on that Friday night.

Sleeping in that box on that cold October night has made me very feisty.  My whining was transformed into a hunger and thirst for justice that longed to be satisfied.  The United States of America is one of the richest countries in the world and yet we have homeless on the streets of every town, city and hamlet in our country and homelessness is on the raise nationally. 

The fastest group of people becoming homeless now is due to economic reasons.  The cost has become more expensive now that it is more of a struggle to pay rent, mortgage etc then in other time of our economic history.  At one time a person working a minimum wage job could find a one bedroom apartment using a only a third of their income to pay their rent.   Now a single parent with one child will have to work more than two full time minimum wage jobs to afford one bedroom apartment in the city of Small City.[i]  We used to say that people are one paycheck away from homelessness but now people are living so close to the edge that they are only one flat tire from homelessness.  When people have to put over half their paychecks toward their housing it is impossible to save money for life’s necessities and emergencies.  If the car which is a sole source of transportation for a breadwinner to go to work breaks down, he/she risks losing his/her job and then the fragile pieces of the household fall down like a row of dominoes.  God forbid that the breadwinner or one of the family members become sick because over 50 million Americans that still do not have health insurance[ii] and many families are forced to go into bankruptcy because of one illness or injury.

Programs such as Section 8 housing vouchers help elderly, disabled and low income working families pay for housing in market rate apartments however there is a waiting list of 7000 people waiting for vouchers in the state of New England State which means if you apply for section 8 housing tomorrow, your expected wait time will be five years before you can receive a voucher.[iii] 

The widow in this morning’s gospel reading faces similar systems of injustice as she seeks to care for herself and her family.  The Gospel of Luke continually lifts the care of the widow and the orphan because these were the most vulnerable populations in Jesus’ time. A widow at that time had no rights, not over her late husband’s property, not over the welfare of her children and not over her own welfare because all of her economic wellbeing was dependant upon male power and authority.  She would have been thrown on the mercy of her male in-laws.  The widow in Luke’s story was asking the judge to act on her behalf, to grant her justice against her opponents. The judge stands as a symbol of the impersonal nature of the system.  Feeling like he doesn’t have to answer to anyone he dismisses the widow but she refuses to take no for an answer.  Eventually he grants her justice because the widow kept bothering him.  As Jesus often does in his parables he turns the power dynamics on their head and in this story the judge becomes vulnerable to the widow’s strength and persistence. 

I know that it is tiring to fight persistently for what is just and right, especially when all too often attempts to bring justice are frustrated by the institutions of power in our society.  It is hard not to become worn down, maybe even become cynical about fighting for justice.  However Jesus’ lifts up the story of the widow as an inspiration for us to keep fighting the good fight.  Jesus says, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day or night?  Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” (Luke 18: 6-7)  As we go about the work of building the Kingdom of God on earth Jesus tells us to be persistent in our prayer life, asking God how can God use our hands, feet and voice toward the bringing about of God’s reign on earth.  The act of constant prayer doesn’t change the nature of God rather it changes our nature.  God’s aim has always been toward the good of all creation and praying helps us to realize what this right relationship looks like and what part we play in co-creating it.  Praying changes our perspective, rather than seeing things as they are and asking why…prayer gives us the imagination to see how things can be and to ask why not! 

Many of the great movements of our time have started with a small group of people of faith who prayed persistently and refused to take no for an answer from the powers and principalities.  In the history of our United Church of Christ is rich with times where our forbears have thought outside the box to bring about justice. This has included the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement and continues on in our denominations participation in seeking economic justice.  Let us also think outside of our boxes to address the unjust systems that cause poverty, hunger and homelessness in the first place. 

These words from the prophet Jeremiah are as true today as they were to the ancient Israelites, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.  And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant says the LORD…The days are surely coming says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.”  (Jeremiah 31: 27-28, 31, 33)

Let us make it so.  Amen.

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[i] The American Friends Service Committee and The National Council of Churches USA, A Just Minimum Wage:  Good for Workers, Business and Our Future.  October 2005.  http://www.umc-gbcs.org/atf/cf/%7B689FEA4C-8849-4C05-A89E-C9BC7FFFF64C%7D/A%20Just%20Minimum%20Wage.pdf

[ii] Richard Wolf “Number of Uninsured Americans rises to 50.7 million”, USA Today September 17, 2010.  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-17-uninsured17_ST_N.htm

[iii] “Many Wait Years for Federal Housing” WMUR News June 6, 2010.  http://www.wmur.com/money/23820951/detail.html