Disclaimer: Ouch! I’m talking to myself this morning!
When I mention Sodom, what comes to mind? Wait! Don’t tell me; I probably know.
For many of us, the word Sodom makes us think of sins that disgust us, things we would never do (or at least so we claim). We think of the story in Genesis 19, and we know why God reigned down burning sulfur on the city of Sodom.
Or do we?
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).
Of the many Sodomite sins, neglecting the poor and focusing on self angered the Lord more than any others.
Maybe that will cause us to pause in introspection before we pass judgment on someone engaged in sinful activities that seem detestable to us. How are we spending our money? On ourselves or in ministry with the poor? (One of my former classmates recently wrote about helping the poor, so check out his blog, Committed Critic. You can find a link to it on my bloggroll in the right sidebar of my site.)
This Sunday we plan to talk about the spiritual discipline of simplicity, so I leave you with these questions to start you thinking this week:
1. How and where do you spend your money? How much do you spend on entertainment (restaurants, movies, video games, books, etc.)? How much do you give to people living below the poverty line?
2. What hesitations do we have about helping the poor?
3. What are some practical ways we can help those living in poverty?
4. Do you have any friends who are poor and/or homeless? Would Jesus?
I look forward to being a part of the discussion on Sunday. Here’s a cool website concerning the topic: http://www.thesimpleway.org/ and a couple of books that have been helpful to me in this are are: The Irresistible Revolution and Dorothy Day’s autobiography. See you soon! Peace.
[...] So perhaps it is time to meditate and think about the Sin of Sodom a bit more. [...]
How beautiful that you remind us by this post. Thank you so much.
Thanks Steven,
I was just beginning to get over my previous conviction that I’m not doing what I should be doing to help people less fortunate than me… now you go and re-convict me! God is going to force me to go to Ninevah, isn’t he?