Poverty as Blessing

...and speaking of ways that you can miss the point, I am struck this morning by these words from Henri Nouwen:

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.

We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.

Here are the words I can't shake: "...our blessing is hidden in our poverty."

This morning, I find myself wondering: how would our faith communities be different if, instead of emphasizing God's blessings in providing abundance, we talked about how God finds us in our places of poverty? How would that change the way we worship? Or the things we talk about in small groups and bible classes? How would our day-to-day conversations with each other be changed? Would those who are financially poor feel more welcome in a community where poverty is seen as God's dwelling place?