You’ll Always Have the Poor – Wait What?!

In John’s gospel, Jesus says the striking statement, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Jesus, who spent his earthly ministry working against the grain of the day’s social structure certainly did not mean we are to ignore the poor, did he? This six-week series will examine “the poor” and problems of poverty from a variety of perspectives and wrestle with interpreting Jesus’s ministry towards the poor for our context today. There promise to be no easy answers, but your voice will help shape our discussions. Series schedule:

Sept 13: What is Jesus talking about when he says, “You’ll always have the poor?” An in-depth look at John 12:1-9
Sept 20: Transform Rockford’s effort to address poverty locally, Bob Guirl
Sept 27: FILM: Waste Land
Oct 4: Global poverty: We will enter an ongoing dialogue between two leading advocates for the poor – Paul Farmer, a physician and humanitarian, and Gustavo Gutierrez, a catholic priest and father of liberation theology.
Oct 11: What now? Reflecting theologically and mapping out next steps.

Wednesdays, September 13th – October 11th
4th Floor Chapel