Are you an idealist or a pragmatist?  Do you find yourself constantly reaching for what really excites and motivates you and then feel crushed when it doesn't work out?  Or do you feel very successful when your efforts in collaborations with others actually seem to work to solve a challenging problem, even if the cooperative solution ends up being quite different than your own ideal?

I am a pragmatic idealist - most of the time!  When it comes to the most challenging and divisive issues of our time, this approach may well be the most effective one.  Theologian Walter Wink reminds us that the forces we face, that oppose our efforts to bring justice, compassion, and peace to the forefront of our world, are deeply and spiritually fallen. Evil inhabits many of the major systems of our world.  Look no farther than corporate entities that pursue greed and power regardless of the destructive effect of their efforts on people and the environment. Look no farther than governments that oppress their own people, failing to meet their most basic needs for security, survival, and opportunity. Look no farther than families who allow their own loved ones to suffer in order to preserve a family secret or to protect a dysfunctional member. Evil lives in the systems of our lives.

Evil also lives within individual people.  It is not only the systems that oppress, but also individuals who promote, practice, or at least who permit injustice, violence, and the continued suffering of innocent people.  As we attempt to change the world in partnership with God's Spirit toward the ideal of the Kingdom of God Jesus proclaimed, we will be wise to recognize that we have a measure of evil within us as well.  We each are capable of practicing inhumanity toward each other.  That realization shouldn't stop us from trying to change the world, however. We cannot afford to let it stop us from changing our churches and our families. But the work of change needs to involve a change in ourselves both in terms of our attitudes and our practices.  

Chances are we will not succeed in bringing the Kingdom of God and its values full blown in this world or in the church or even in our families - not in our lifetime.  But as we allow ourselves to become awake to the Spirit and let her move through every aspect of our lives, then that Kingdom will be present wherever we talk and act.  And God will use that sacred space to work in the world and to further the transformation promised and foreshadowed in Jesus when "the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." (Revelation 11:15).

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.
  
Jack Price

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