Sermon, February 15, 2004
6 Epiphany, Year C
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
You all know the story of Cinderella. It has several versions, but the basic tale is about a poor girl who lives in an oppressive family. Cinderella works and cleans day and night while her half-sisters lounge in opulent and arrogant security. Cinderella's name comes from one of her tasks. She cleans the fireplace cinders, rising early enough each morning to start the new fire so the others won't have to feel the cold.
It is a picture that moves our hearts. And we are glad when the tables are finally turned, Cinderella puts on the glass slipper and is rescued from her suffering. She becomes the princess and the cruel step-sisters are despoiled. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom... Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation."
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Cynthia Porter works full time as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home in Marion, Alabama. When she comes on duty at 11 p.m., she makes rounds, checking the residents for skin tears and helping them go to the toilet or use a bedpan. She has to make sure she turns the bedridden every two hours, ...or they will get bedsores so bad you can put your fist in them. But there aren't enough people on her shift. Often only two nursing assistants are on duty to take care of forty-five residents. And Cynthia must also wash the wheelchairs, clean up the dining rooms, mop the floors and scrub out the refrigerator, drawers and closets during her shift. Before she leaves, she helps the residents get dressed for breakfast.
For all this, Cynthia makes $350 every two weeks. She is separated from her husband, who gives her no child support. The first two weeks each month she pays her $150 rent. The next two weeks, she pays her water and her electric bills. It is difficult to afford Clorox or shampoo. Insuring that her children are fed properly is a stretch...
She can't afford a car, so she pays someone to drive her the twenty-five miles to work. There have been a few days when she couldn't find a ride. "I walked at 12 o'clock at night, she said. "I'd rather walk and be a little late than call in. I'd rather make the effort. I couldn't just sit here. I don't want to miss a day -- otherwise I might be fired." No public transportation is available that could take her all the way to work.
Cynthia lives with her three children in a small maroon-colored shack. ...Inside, the plywood floor is so thin and worn that the ground can be seen below. In the next room, a toilet sinks into the floor. There is no phone. A broken heater sits against the wall; the landlord refuses to fix it.
Keeping her children's clothes clean requires great effort because Cynthia has no washing machine. Instead, she fills her bathtub halfway and gets on her hands and knees to scrub the clothes. Then she hangs them out to dry...
[Recently Cynthia] and twenty-five others from the nursing home -- all eighty of her co-workers are African-American women, like her -- gathered in the little brick Masonic building outside of Marion to talk about having a union. None had ever gotten a raise of more than 13 cents an hour. Some who had been there ten years were still making $6 an hour. But ultimately, it was the lack of respect from their employer that motivated these women. They said they often told their supervisors something important about patients, but no one listened. The [nursing] home offered no promotions either. Cynthia said, "I knew it wouldn't improve without outside help."
Despite the frustration and the difficult conditions, Cynthia beams when she talks about her job. "I like helping people," she says. "I like talking with them, and shampooing their hair. I like old people. If they are down, I can really make them feel better. The patients say, 'Nobody loves me or comes to see me.' Sometimes I help the residents play dominoes. Sometimes their hands shake, but I hold them. It's a lot of fun for them. I tell them 'I love you,' and give them a hug. I like being a CNA. I'm doing what I want to be doing."
(This story is from Beth Shulman, Working and Poor in the USA, published in The Nation, February 9, 2004; adapted from her book, The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans; publisher, New Press.)
***
There is another fairy tale. It's the one that tells us that America is the land of opportunity. In America, if you just work hard, you can earn a livable income and provide basic security for you and your family. And if you work really hard, you can even move up the ladder of success beyond basic security, and become prosperous. It's the American Dream. But the midnight bell has tolled on that dream for some thirty million Americans, and their hopes have turned into pumpkins and rats. Low-wage, no-benefits jobs do not pay enough for people to meet their basic needs, and it is estimated that low-wage jobs will make up 30 percent of the economy by the end of this decade. Research shows that most low-wage workers will never move up the ladder into the middle class. There is no Fairy Godmother, no Prince Charming, no glass slipper for them and for their children. Jesus said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled."
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." Did you know that the amount of national wealth owned by the richest 1 percent of our population is increasing dramatically. Wealth is becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of fewer people, and political power and influence go hand in hand with that wealth. Maybe that's inevitable, you might say. It is the result of rewarding merit. Maybe. But it's not like that in other prosperous democracies with free-enterprise systems. I know numbers are hard to listen to in a sermon, but try to listen to these. What is the ratio between the income of the top one-fifth and bottom one-fifth of the population? In Japan, 4.3 to 1; in Belgium, 4.6 to 1; in Canada and France, 7.1 to 1. In the United States -- 11 to one, the highest of any developed nation. One other thing. These statistics date from just before the recent tax cuts which targeted what was called "relief" to those in the highest income brackets.
Why is it this way? Why is the United States so different from these other free-enterprise democracies? Most observers say that this is the result of the way our economic system is structured. Our taxation policies, regulations, interest rates and such tend to favor the very wealthy. The old fairy tale that "a rising tide raises all boats" seems to be more accurately expressed "a rising tide raises all yachts" in our economic system.
(The previous two paragraphs are from data published by Republican author/columnist Kevin Phillips, Wealth and Democracy, quoted by Marcus Borg in The Heart of Christianity, chapter 7.)
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What would Jesus have us do about this? The first thing is to see it. The poor are pretty invisible to us. First we have to acknowledge the presence of these hard working low-wage, no benefits neighbors among us and recognize them as our brothers and sisters. We have to bear the discomfort of seeing their suffering and not finding a convenient rationalization for ourselves to excuse it and to look away. Otherwise, we're no better than Cinderella's step-sisters -- benefiting from the cheap labor of our step-brothers and sisters without even recognizing the suffering and injustice. We have to explode the fairy tales that tell us lies. We have to admit that, for millions of Americans, hard work alone will not bring security.
Then, when our hearts are softened, we can ask "Why?" and use our power to challenge the systems that aren't working for so many. Why is the minimum wage so low? Why is it not indexed to inflation? Why don't companies that benefit from public funds provide quality jobs with benefits and living wages? Why do working people not have access to affordable healthcare? Why can't some workers care for a sick child without fear of losing their job or a day's pay? Why is quality childcare unavailable or unaffordable? Why can't workers organize without fear of intimidation, harassment, or being fired? Why is it that a hard working person can't make it anymore?
This gospel lesson places Jesus solidly on the side of the poor, the hungry, the marginalized. The language is confrontational. "Blessed are you... Woe to you." That is uncomfortable for me. I am a rich man in the world's richest nation. I am not poor, hungry, weeping, or reviled like those whom Jesus blesses. I am rich, full, jolly, and respected like those to whom he speaks woe.
But there it is. Jesus connects our lives and our fates together in a word that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. And in real life there is no Prince Charming to turn Cinderella into a princess, no Fairy Godmother to wave a wand and give Cynthia Porter the dignity and security she has worked so hard for. But there is us -- you and me -- and Jesus' commandment for us to love one another.