“If you get rid of unfair practices,
    quit blaming victims,
    quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
    and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.“

— Isaiah 58:9-10 (The Message)

“Georgetown Corner in the Rain” by Bernice Cross

Harlem Hopscotch

It’s the first of the month, and the rent is due.

Economists expect that unemployment this spring will rival that of the Great Depression. More and more of us are part of a gig economy that’s got no gigs right now. It won’t be long before people who were barely getting by can’t manage it alone, while people who have always considered ourselves financially independent will learn how financially interdependent we have always been.

What can you and I do right now to “start giving [y]ourselves to the down-and-out?” The time is right for trying on new ways of “living simply so that others may simply live.”

Organizations are reinventing their service models on a daily basis to keep people in their homes and keep the hungry fed. They probably have a banner on the front page of their website right now inviting you to consider new ways you might fit into making those new models work.

What relationships can we deepen into partnerships of mutual support? What services can you offer? Which of your own needs do you worry you will no longer be provide for yourself? Who can you talk to instead of merely worrying?

How can we direct our buying right now to best support people who use that income to support families? What resources might you have literally lying around taking up space in your confined quarters that would help enliven someone else’s?