Prosperity Gospel Only for the Well-Heeled?

photo courtesy of Texas National Guard
who have come to the rescue / Flickr

For all those people who decry the lack of importance of the federal government--I wonder 

what they think of the enormous tragedy in Houston and surrounding communities. The courageous efforts of our government has once again stepped in and helped in so many ways. I have been moved by all those who have come to the rescue of people who names they do not know. It hardly mattered their color, their faith or non-faith--they simply were people in desperate need. We Americans know how to help in times of need. We saw it after 9-ll; we saw it after Katrina--I saw it when the tornadoes ripped through Birmingham--and we have all seen in again and again. 

How in the world could we have made it without the Federal Government? Our Government cannot do everything--but they have helped enormously again and again. I have also been moved by the multitudes of people who have come forward to help once again in Texas. In a lot of ways we are like that crazy family that are poles apart on just about everything--but when trouble comes--the good family pulls together.

We cannot do it by ourselves. The world is much too complicated and our resources are far too little. This does not give us license to pass the buck to the federal government or anybody else. We all must do what we can. 

The list of our needs are many. The Dreamers who simply want to have a better life. The poor aging grandmothers who are trying desperately to raise three grandchildren. The sick in some little out of the way place that find health care nonexistent. Or the Title One kids who do not have the luxury of vouchers. Or all those everywhere that need decent health care and whose resources cannot stretch but so far. 

We have other problems than Hurricanes and other natural disasters. And this is why I think this is one of the reasons we have a government. To take care of the people. All the people. Not just some group or some party. The word still is all. So we need federal and state governments that know that above all else--people count and cannot be lost in the shuffle. In my book the government should do for us together what we cannot do alone. 

We disagree on a lot of issues in this country. But when I see all those reaching out in Houston and those other desperate communities I am proud to be an American. And when I see all those other problems--I hope we can do a better job of helping these too. 

Anthea Butler has written this great article in The New York Times about the poverty of the Prosperity Gospel in times of desperation. You may not agree with all of what she says. Who does? But this writer seems to be reminding us that when Jesus said we are commanded to reach out always "to the least of these" he never gave us another choice. And he never qualified what he said.  

photo courtesy of Texas Military Relief / flickr

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com