Hair Metal Theology, Á La Poison

    I recently attended a lecture by Dr. Gale Yee, who is a professor of biblical studies at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. The lecture's topic was "Answering God's Call: Bringing Justice To All." She related our call as Christians to the United Nation's eight Millennium Development Goals that aim to end extreme hunger and poverty. What a task. End poverty? End hunger? Can these goals even be achieved? After pondering her lecture, I think that extreme poverty and hunger can be eradicated, even if all poverty and hunger is not.

    This lecture on the world's poor also made me think of an early 90's song by glam-rockers Poison. The song is "Something To Believe In." You remember it, right? Well, ironically enough, from the band that brought us such classics as "Nothin' But A Good Time" and "Unskinny Bop" came a very profound anthem about life's tragedies. I thought about the lyrics in that song...

I drive by the homeless sleeping on a cold dark street
Like bodies in an open grave
Underneath the broken old neon sign
That used to read, 'Jesus Saves'

A mile away live the rich folks
And I see how they're living it up
While the poor they eat from hand to mouth
The rich drinkin' from a golden cup

And it just makes me wonder
Why so many lose and so few win

    So amidst all of that hair metal, there's actually some pretty good theology. Why is the gap between the rich and the poor so great? Have you ever noticed the distance between a city skyscraper and a street lined with dilapidated houses? Probably about a mile. A single mile. Within three or four blocks, you have some of the tallest, richest financial buildings in the world and some of the poorest, run-down neighborhoods in the country. And that's in America, the land of plenty. If you've ever traveled to Haiti, or India, or Africa, or a host of other countries, you know that the poverty we see here in America doesn't compare to the poverty in the rest of the world.

    Can we really end poverty and hunger? What actions can we take? Why do so many lose and so few win? I think a large part of the problem lies in that previous lyric. So many "lose" and so few "win" because the ones who have won don't share and distribute fairly to those who haven't won. We live in a "I'm-looking-out-for-me" world, and in a world like that, there will always be extreme poverty. Jesus spoke to this point, saying that "you will always have the poor among you" (Matt. 26:11). And though there will always be poor among us, that doesn't mean we should ignore their need while we go about our busy little lives. We can and should do all that we can to help the poor and destitute. For me that might mean giving money to a reputable organization, supporting local and fair-trade businesses, tithing to my church, and praying for those around the world. What does it mean for you? I can't answer that, but I do know doing nothing shouldn't be your answer.