Be warm and well fed

Lent Day 35 (Tuesday)

Today’s Scripture

I am picking each day’s scripture from the Daily Office (aka bible reading plan) from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Psalm: 107:1-32

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town;
5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;
7 he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town.
8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.

My Reflection

This post was delayed so the scripture and the thought is from a day last week.

We walked to a tasting last night at a little wine bar in our neighborhood. It’s the kind of after work activity that’s really normal in a neighborhood that has Michelin mentioned restaurants in all directions. The wine makers themselves were in from Northern California, 15 miles from the Pacific coast they said, and you could see the sun on them. They poured from the bottom of the bottle and talked of the river running through their valley, and cuvée and appellation, which are words I had to just now go look up to make sure I got them right.

It was delightful, and I discovered maybe I don’t dislike Chardonnay after all (I was told that the grape is grown all over the place and the taste can vary quite a bit).

Walking back towards home, past boutiques, French cafes and elevated pizza shops, we almost bumped into the dark-haired woman who sits on the sidewalk by Gaslight Cafe. She appears to be Venezuelan and has been there for weeks in the same place, a blanket over her, and her face tracking each pedestrian. She skips us because she’s already speaking to two other women who have walked out of a high-end farm-to-table restaurant and she hold out her candy basket—chocolat? She asks. The offerings are Reese’s peanut butter cups and mini Snickers. Not bad.

I’ve been walking past her several days a week, and she often has a 3-year-old with her—bright eyed and hiding under the blanket or running around on the sidewalk beside her. I don’t see the baby this evening, and I wonder if she’s safe somewhere.

Selling candy is what so many Venezuelan refugees have turned to in Chicago, especially mothers. There is a candy seller on the Blue Line, on the street corner, and this woman with her blanket here. Some walk with their baby strapped to their back in that full wrap. They are denied work permits (God help me) but they’re trying anyway the best they can.

We’re already 10 steps past her and I don’t stop. I think of it. I mentally reach my hand into my back pocket and think: do I have cash at all? I’ve bought candy I don’t really want several times from others, but never from her, and I consider it. But I don’t. Why turn around now. We are in a hurry to get to dinner.

“Be warm and be well fed” my heart curses me this morning. The sarcastic warning of scripture: blessing the needy with words instead of real help.

One of the traditional commitments of Lent is paying extra attention to “almsgiving”—giving to those in need. I always start Lent with good intentions here, but my actual follow through is disgraceful.

This beginning of Psalm 107 shows us YHWH the God of steadfast love (hessed) who cares for the hungry and thirsty.

They are cared for just because they asked for help.

They are cared for by bringing them to an “inhabited town,” because the hospitality—in ancient cultures, and especially for Israel—was a moral obligation.

They are cared for satisfying thirst, and delicious things for hunger.

Our wine, our boutiques, our French cafes, our pizza are so out of reach for this mother and her 3 year old. And I have not stopped.

God help us.