Nearly 30% poverty rate

I just watched the video that I told you about last night. Based on Psalm 137, it talks about the feelings that the children of Israel had when they were in Babylon and their captors asked them to sing.

Psalm 137 says:

On the banks of the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
when we remembered our home, so far away, sweet Zion.
hoping they would fall into the waters and disappear,
for our torturers were demanding songs from us--
songs of joy from days gone by, songs from home.

Such cruel men taunted us.
How did they expect us to sing,
while still tormented, brokenhearted, homesick?
O Jerusalem, even still,
please don' escape my memory.
I treasure you and your songs,
even as I hide my harp from the enemy.
And if I forget, may I never sing again;
may I never play well again.
For what use would it be,
if I don't remember home
as my source of joy.

Remember, Lord, how the Edomites, our brothers,
the descendants of Esau, stood by and
watched. Gloating, they said,
Destroy it, tear it down to the ground,
when Jerusalem was being demolished.

Still I am even more horrified
by the violence you've committed,
daughter of Babylon,
(killing innocent children,
torturing and degrading others).
I only hope those who make you pay for this
will laugh in your face,
so you will no longer walk so proud.
Maybe they should dash your children against the rocks,
so you will know how it feels.
May you live to see this and not die before.

Bart asked the congregation in new worship yesterday tell him some of the questions they had about the whole situation and one of them was, "Why didn't we do something about the near 30% poverty rate in the first place?"

Excellent question. Natural disasters bring out the best in people, but what about the conditions of the poor who are among us all the time. Or, as I've said before but my friend Kari said so much better, what about the kids in foster care who most people don't know exist.

If we were motivated to do what we needed to do every day to take care of each other, then when natural disaster strikes, the disaster would be lessened.