Toxic Charity

OT Lesson: Proverbs 19:17 (NIV)

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
and He will reward them for what they have done.

NT Lesson: Matthew 10:16 (NRSV)

See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Sermon

Scam Alert

Good morning. Before I preach or even greet, I feel compelled to issue a warning. Last Monday, Gretel and Lori, our PPM director, each received an email from someone posing as Rev. Je Lee, requesting money for staff members gifts. Gretel, believing it was from me, responded but fortunately did not send any funds. Initially, we suspected my email was hacked, but that was not the case. I use two-step verification wherever that is available which gives better security. Instead, someone created a similar-looking email account under the name ‘Rev. Je Lee.’ It is easy to set up free email accounts with services like Gmail, AOL, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft OneDrive, and others, without substantial verification. Here are my only two official email addresses: crinje@gmail.com for personal use, and je@LebanonFPC.org for work-related matters. Please remember, I will never solicit money or gift cards from you in any form. Even if you receive a call from someone with a charming Korean accent asking for money, rest assured, it is not me. I have never, and will never, ask for money. Even during my impoverished days in Korea, I chose to go hungry rather than ask friends for money. Jesus warned of false prophets claiming to be Him. Similarly, if anyone claims to be ‘Pastor Je’ and asks for money, do not believe them. They are not me. Two thousand years ago, Jesus already knew that the identity theft will be a thing.

Year 2024

Anyway. How is this new year of 2024 treating you so far? It is freezing. Freezing temperature with the snow, ice and the strong wind creates what seems like a cold-blooded dystopia. So here are a few old films set in the year 2024:

• Beyond the Time Barrier (1960): US Air Force test pilot Major Bill Allison flies an experimental aircraft and he loses radio contact with the base. Then he lands the same base in 2024, not in 1960.
• A Boy and His Dog (1975): Unlike the friendly and lovely title of the film, it is a post apocalyptic film describing the United States in 2024 after nuclear war.
• Highlander 2 (1991): Set in 2024, this film portrays an Earth where the ozone layer is depleted.
• The Thirteenth Floor (1999): Characters from 2024 explore 1937 Los Angeles through virtual reality.

There could be more films, but these are what I found with the cinematic background of 2024. The interesting thing is that all the films describe this year as an apocalyptic dystopia in a very distant future. From the first film of 1960, this year is 64 years in the future. We may feel it is not that far future when many people live even more than hundred years. But sixty years took us from the Wright Brothers’ first flight to the moon landing of Apollo 11. So my point is if you are curious how we thought of this year in the past, you may watch those films mentioned before.

Cash for Homeless?

Can you say the price again?

It was January 2016 that I attended the APCE conference for free. APCE is the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. I attended it for free because I was getting an award/scholarship as one of the two excellent and outstanding seminarians out of ten PCUSA seminaries. They paid everything including a very nice hotel. The conference was in Chicago, and I was living in Chicago. I told them that I don’t need a hotel stay because I could get there in one bus ride, and no transfer needed with total travel time less than thirty minutes. They answered me that it is a package and I must stay at the hotel. So I enjoyed three nights of Marriott hotel in Chicago downtown. It was a very good four days’ conference. But I found that the lunch at the hotel was pretty expensive, so from the second day I went out to fast food restaurants on Magnificent Mile. And it was Thursday 28th when a guy approached me while I was on my way for lunch to nearby Chipotle. He said, “Please help me. I am hungry.” He looked like a homeless, and he said he was hungry. So I answered him, “Oh sure. Great timing. I am on my way to Chipotle. You can be my company and I will buy you lunch.” He said, “No, I’d like to eat by myself.” “OK, then. How about I pay for your lunch. You can either sit at another table or just grab and go?” He refused my proposal again but requested $50. It was 2016 before the big COVID inflation. I wonder what he used to eat for lunch. I was a seminarian without any income, living on government food stamp. I escaped the hotel to have a cheapest lunch available. I could not afford donating $50. And above all else, I did not have any cash with me. So I told him so. Then he said to me, “Don’t worry. The next building has an ATM on the first floor. Go and get some cash for me.” Finally I told him, “I am very sorry, but I don’t think so.”

While eating at Chipotle, I pondered about the guy. ‘Did I just reject someone in need? I am a seminarian, a pastor candidate. Shouldn’t have I just given him money? Am I a good Christian?’ Lots of thoughts bothered. But at the same time, I thought, ‘If he were truly hungry, how could he reject my offer and lunch invitation? I didn’t even force him to eat with me. What if he was going to buy drugs, tobaccos, tequilas, etc?’ My conclusion was that the guy was not in need of food but just wanted money for whatever reason other than food. So do you think I should have given him the money, $50 which I could not financially afford? I don’t think so. Just giving out money to those people in need, I now think, may be toxic to those people whom we help, making them dependant. Sometimes, we think we are helping, but actually intoxicating them. So we need to judge wisely case by case.

Toxic Charity Example

There is a famous book, “Toxic Charity” by Robert Lupton, where I found an interesting illustration with the shoes. Since I lost my book, I tell you this from my memory, which is fading, and thus subject to errors. There was a poor community where half of the people could not afford shoes. So those people were going around the streets on barefoot. Then a charity organisation found this situation. Out of compassion and love, they began to provide new quality shoes for all the people in the community. It went so well, and looked amazing at first. The organisation and the supporters were so proud, feeling great that those poor people don’t have to walk on barefoot, free from the dangers of sharp objects on the streets. Time flew, and the community began to change slowly but steadily, and irreversibly. There were other half of the people in the community who used to buy shoes. They stopped buying shoes because they can get better shoes for free. Why would you spend money on shoes when you can get the better ones for free? Several shoe stores all went out of business. The owners and the employees all lost their jobs. They got poor and the community got poorer. Then the shoemakers followed the shoe stores. All the shoemakers in town lost their job and became poor. The community got poorer. And then those people who supplied the materials to the shoemakers all went out of business. There were more people without jobs than ever. All those people who freshly lost their jobs, they are without their income and became unable to buy other things including food. Then the other stores followed and shut down their doors. Several years after the charity organisation’s shoes donation, the community became much worse. I do not blame that charity organisation. They did not mean it, and they just helped out of compassion and love. But the result was disastrous. A charity out of love destroyed the local economy, making everybody poor and dependant.

Then should we stop helping because we might ruin them? I don’t think that is a reasonable solution. Beside today’s OT lesson, there are so many Bible verses commanding us to help the needy, to feed the hungry, and to do good to the poor. So not doing charity is not an option. But at the same time, I believe, God would not want us to hurt them, making things worse. That is why Jesus tells us today to be as wise as serpents and to be as innocent as doves. Many times we simply assume that being innocent is like being dumb and stupid. And Jesus tells us today it is not.

African Seminarian

There is a church I know, which is very mission oriented. They have been doing so many good things in the United States and globally as well. One of the things they did for the last four or five decades was to sponsor a seminarian in Africa. The church does not want to be named publicly, so I cannot tell you all the details. There is a seminary in an African town, a Presbyterian seminary—Oops, too much information. Forget about what I just said. So the church sponsored on student to come over to America to get the quality education, so that he can go back after the education to his home country and serve his country better. The sponsoring means paying everything from moving cost, tuition, books and other supplies, living cost, and whatever is needed. So the African seminarian finishes his study in three years in America, then the church sponsored another seminarian. It was a great thing but it came with one minor problem. Over the five decades, not even one single student went back to his home country. They all, I mean hundred per cent of them, stayed and settled in America. I don’t blame those students. This is a good country. As an immigrant myself, I know this is a good country that everybody wants to live in. There are millions of people trying to come into this country even illegally. But for those seminarians, they came legally and everything was paid for. It is absolutely natural to think “Why would I want to go back to Africa?” But it was a problem for the sponsoring church because this is not what they initially wanted or envisioned by spending tons of money. The church mission committee and many other members discussed and debated harshly for several years without any success. They spent millions of dollars, and could not get one result they want. Many people demanded to stop this useless mission. The mission was about to stop. But at the last minute, someone came up with a brilliant idea. So they changed the mission slightly, and it was very successful. Instead of sponsoring one student coming over to America, they began to support the seminary in Africa itself. With the same money, actually little less money, they are now sponsoring forty students, not just one. And the great thing is that the return rate is one hundred per cent because the students are staying there, not coming over in the first place. So I can say that this church solved the problem as wise as serpents while supporting the mission as innocent as doves.

Fakers

Many churches allocate funds to assist those in need, which is very Christian. When I came to this church, we also had such budget. Those churches including this one get lots of request for help. Some are genuine and true. But some are not true. They fake their story and situation. The problem is that the fakers know much better than those people in actual need, how to get the money from the church. And those people actively approach to the churches with new pastors. And they use the Christian guilt that we are obligated to help the people in need. First two years of my ministry after the seminary, I got so many calls. I helped a few of them, and then the rumour went around not only in town but also in the entire county that the dumb Asian Presbyterian pastor is so gullible and freely gives out the money. I was told this from another pastor in town, not Presbyterian but Baptist. Since then, I began to ask for the proof such as a utility bill invoice with the outstanding balance on it for those who claim that they need to pay for their water, gas, or electricity. None of those people who promised me to come back with their invoice have never shown up again. The real problem is that if we give out the money to those fakers, then those people in real need could not get any help. What should we do then? Do we stop helping all at once? How can we be as wise as serpents while being as innocent as doves?

Co-operation with Other Organisations

If I were like God, knowing everything, that would solve every single problem we have when it comes to the charity and helping the needy. But to your surprise, I am not God, nor like God. To make it worse, I am not good at telling the fakers from the actual needy. So the session and I decided to work together with the ‘Caring Centre’ by the introduction of Margi McConnaha. I talked to Teresa who is in charge of the centre. Many of you probably know her. She has been running the centre for a few decades and she faced so many fakers as well. And now she is very good at telling the fakers from the actual needy.

And then we began to work together with the Live for Life Indiana, a women shelter by the introduction of Sigmon Myers. One Sunday last year they came and spoke with their testimonies. So for now our budget which we used to give away the money, is now combined with your designated donations going to those two organisations to help the people in need in this town of Lebanon. It may or may not be the ideal way of helping local people in need, but that is the best way I can think of for now. If you come up with a better idea, please let me and the session know. We, as the body of Christ, want to help the poor and the needy, not only because that is the command of God, but also because we are compassionate and loving people. And at the same time, we want to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. Our international mission is focused on Malawi. Malawi project event is schedule on April. And I believe the Malawi project is free from the danger of the toxic charity which I mentioned before because it is helping the expecting mother. And there is also Little Dresses for Africa.

Conclusion

Friends, we are Christians and our nature is loving and compassionate. We have a big heart for the community and those people in it. There are many ways helping them. Financial donation is merely one of many ways. I’ve seen some of you volunteering at the Caring Centre. I’ve seen some of you doing many things in the community. And as a church, we also want to help people near and far whether they are here in Lebanon or far away in Malawi. When we help, we want to be as innocent as doves. And I believe we already are. But how can we be wise in charity? I may speak more languages than most you. But that doesn’t mean I am wiser than you. In fact, you all are wiser than I, having more experiences and thus more wisdom. So please help me and the church be as wise as serpents when we do the good works in the name of our Saviour. When we do that, we are lending to the Lord, and God will surely reward us for what we have done. Amen.