Awareness of Oppression

What do we know about oppression? Really I don’t know much. I am a walking, breathing example of white privilege. I was born to middle class parents who came from middle class parents that lived through the depression. I have never lived in doubt about my immediate housing or where my next meal would come from. I don’t know much about poverty. The closest I have come was to be a “poor college student.”

Yet, I know poverty exists. I know that there are people in Cowlitz County who are living in generational poverty. Denial of economic change and its effects on the community have led to a high dropout rate in our schools, and an above average drug problem in our communities. Our jails are full of people who have a poor education and committed crimes because of drug or alcohol abuse. How will these people get a new start? Who will help them?

There is a class structure in America. While we might pride ourselves on the idea that anyone can make it, anyone can have “the American Dream” reality is that we have placed barriers to keep particular class boundaries. Those boundaries are distinguished by dress, language, and recreation. We make judgments about class and status by where we shop, go to school and the neighborhood we live in. We live with an idea that America is a place of equality yet we do not provide equal health care, education or employment opportunities.

There is poverty in America and the first thing Middle Class America must do is to recognize the situation for what it is. The poor are with us. They are the faces we ignore on the sidewalk, they are the people we pretend not to see at the freeway intersection. They are also the people we sit with in church, stand in line next to at the grocery store, and they may even live next door or just down the street.

They need help. They need a society that provides basic needs. Yes, they need you to donate food for the shelter. Yes, they need help with getting health care. Yes, they need help paying the bills. You know what they also need? A relationship.

What did Jesus do with the poor? Did Jesus magic some riches so the poor would suddenly have tons of gold? Did Jesus cure everyone who was sick? Did Jesus send the oppressive Roman Legions back to Rome? No. Jesus simply gave the poor a relationship with God. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, a kingdom where everyone had a relationship with God, not only the wealthy.

The poor of our community have basic needs that must be met. Not the least of which is the need to have a relationship with another human being. Someone who doesn’t need anything from them, who isn’t going to judge them, someone who can offer the unconditional love of Christ.

Monday Exodus 1:1-14
In the beginning of the Exodus story everything changes. The relationships are different and there is fear. The memory of the special relationship between the Pharaoh and the Hebrew people through Joseph has been forgotten.

Do you remember a time when you felt like others had forgotten you?


Who is someone you know who may feel forgotten?

Tuesday Exodus 1:15-22
Pharaoh attempts to control the perceived threat. This horrible scene is put before us and is a reminder of the potential for the cruelty of leaders who are threatened. What would normally be abhorrent becomes acceptable because of the fear.

How does fear affect your feelings about the poor?

Do larger fences make you safer?



Wednesday Exodus 2:1-10
A favorite story of Sunday School where the baby Moses is saved by the mercy of a princess and the quick thinking of his sister. Sometimes God works through unexpected circumstances and people in order to bring change.

When did God do something unexpected to bring you help?



Thursday Exodus 2:11-25
Moses flees after acting out of the many emotions of being a person of privilege despite his native people’s enslavement. He arrives in a place where he becomes a humble shepherd and begins a new life with a new family.

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2007/10/30/top_story/news01.txt

Generational poverty is an issue in Cowlitz County. Denial of economic change and its effects on the community have led to a high dropout rate in our schools, and an above average drug problem in our communities. Our jails are full of people who have a poor education and committed crimes because of drug or alcohol abuse. How will these people get a new start? Who will help them?


Friday Exodus 3:1-15
God says, “I have heard the cry of my people” and Moses is called to act. Moses is sure that God must be mistaken and has a list of several excellent excuses of why God has made a mistake.

God Called Moses back to a relationship with his people.

What relationships can you foster to help those living in oppression?