REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERFAITH ALLIANCE ON POVERTY
PRESENTED AT FIRST THURSDAY MEETING, JUNE 4, 2020
DAVID GROFF
CO-CHAIR OF INTERFAITH ALLIANCE ON POVERTY
Since its start, the Alliance has attracted mostly older, often retired persons like me. Of course, not all of us qualify for Medicare, but most of us do. That, of course, is not coincidental. Younger people are weighed down with demanding jobs and children and often don’t have the time or energy for the kind of work this organization undertakes. Again, not all of us are old. We do have a sprinkling or younger folks and thank God for them. But I have only to consider the busy lives of my own two thirty-something daughters and their husbands to realize why there aren’t more of them.
In Eastern and Southern Africa, many traditional societies are organized on the basis of what anthropologists call “age grade systems.” Cohorts of men and women move through their lives in formal stages, each of which involves a different set of responsibilities. When they reach a certain age, they become elders and they are expected to provide wise leadership to their societies. I like to think most of us are like those elders. We have amassed a great deal of experience and hopefully gained wisdom and we have time to draw on our experience and wisdom to address the problems facing our community.
What I have found most exciting about the Alliance is that all of us, elders and non-elders alike, seek to apply our experience and wisdom through the prism of faith. Our faith communities differ in many ways but all share in common a deep and abiding commitment to community service. We have an expanded view of who our neighbors are and how we should to relate to them. Our faith traditions in one way or another encourage us to exercise servant leadership. I have enjoyed the opportunities to get to know so many of you representing so many different churches and synagogues. Our fellowship is grounded in our desire to serve and make our community better for everyone, especially those most marginalized. In this time of local, national, and world-wide crisis our commitment and whatever wisdom we can muster are needed more than ever.
It has been my privilege to serve as a co-chair of this organization. I want to thank all of you for putting up with me but most of all I want to thank you for your steadfast commitment to addressing the complicated and heart-wrenching issues of poverty in our community. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Carol Turner for her vision and leadership without which the Interfaith Faith Alliance on Poverty would not exist.