They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness;
they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord
Jeremiah 5: 28-29
By the McDonald’s on the corner, I saw a man begging for $1.50, for a coffee or a sandwich.
I stopped. I didn’t have any cash for him. But I asked him his name. “Juan,” he said.
And I saw his face change. To exchange our names, to be known, is to make a stranger into a neighbor. And a neighbor is he who will always have a place at your table, and has a right to be your guest.
Our city blocks would be different if we took just one small step of seeing them not as blocks of strangers but of neighbors.
Sweet Unrest 