1 + 1 = 1

Our country has been experiencing a series of crises. There’s been the gas crisis. The mortgage crisis, the stock market crisis, declining industries, rising unemployment, high food costs, two wars, natural disasters, and on and on.

But many low-income Americans have been living in crisis mode for a long time now. In fact, every single day is a crisis for them. Each new national crisis has created more people in need and made things worse for those already in poverty.

For many American life just doesn’t add up anymore. I remember a time when 1 + 1 = 2. There was a time when, if you had a job and were responsible, you could support your family. If you were loyal to your employer and worked hard, you could count on your job being there for you. If you saved and invested in a pension, you could be hopeful about your retirement. If something happened and you fell on hard times, others would be there to help you through it.

When I was young, I remember my parents’ generation teaching us kids that there were tried and true formulas for how to budget your money each month in order to live within your means. Ten percent of one’s income was to go toward tithing. Thirty-five percent for housing. Fifteen percent for food. Fifteen percent for car payment. Five percent for medical and dental. Five percent for insurance. Five percent for miscellaneous. And five percent for savings. This budget formula was passed down from general to generation and always worked.

Bur for millions of Americans today, these formulas are obsolete and far beyond their reach. The math of the past doesn’t work. 1 + 1 no longer equals 2. “Just work hard and you’ll do fine” no longer applies. You can do all things to secure your family’s future but find you are going backwards instead.

1 + 1 = 1 is the new math of poverty. And for some, the mathematical equation in life has become even more compelling: 1 + 1 = 0. These changes have been debilitating and stressful. It has created hopelessness, despair, confusion, hopelessness, despair, confusion, pain, isolation, and fear. What will it take for life to make sense again for people in need?

In the kingdom of God, the math is different. God has His own equation and He is in the business of multiplying. When a little boy gave his meager lunch to Jesus, He took it, blessed it, and then fed more than 5,000 hungry people with it. And there was plenty left over. Jesus said He came to bring life in abundance (john 10:10). And His mission continues today through His body, the Church. While the challenges facing our country are immense, I believe that through the Church, 1 + 1 can equal 2 again for peoplein need. The Body of Christ is the provision God has given the poor to help them navigate their way out of the distorted equation of poverty. We must rise up on behalf of the poor and needy now more than ever before. The poor need to see and experience God’s love for them. When we work together, we can help life make sense again for people in need. When we work across denominational lines and share resources, the right equation is restored. When we act to show the love, 1 + 1 = 2. It is through the Body of Christ that those in need can find life – food, clothing, warmth, purpose, faith, hope, love – in abundance.

God is the equation that can balance every situation in each person’s life as our country finds itself in the midst of many minuses. There are limitless pluses in God’s Church. There is one Body plus one Spirit plus one Hope plus one Faith plus one Baptism plus one God and Father which equals unity. And unity equals help, hope, and a future for those in need.

Robert Odom

Love INC National Newsletter

Winter 2008