I want to change the world yet find I can't. I long to fix the problems I see around me and find they overwhelm me. I can't fix them. I can't even cope with them. Sometimes my own problems overwhelm me. I have a strong desire to heal the hurt of the poor, the dispossessed, the left out, and the battered. I try to heal that hurt and discover it will not be healed. I am hungry to meet the needs of a broken world, but again and again I am betrayed by my own needs.

There are times I despair of making a difference in my life, of making a difference in the world for the values I hold: justice, compassion, inclusiveness. In that despair, I'm drawn to a light of hope. There are many actions I take in my life, attempting to fix or heal, restore what is broken. Some of them make a small difference in the world, but most of them do not. There is a symbolic dimension to these actions, however, that actually makes them powerful. I act in faith that God desires to have brokenness mended, problems brought to resolution, and hurts healed. The power comes when I act by faith that my attempts are in synch with the movement of God's Spirit in the universe.

Our lives are filled with symbolic actions. When a congregation gathers to worship, it acts in the belief that its prayers and songs of praise are one with the heavenly chorus surrounding the throne of grace. When we give our money, time, and effort to right a wrong, change an unjust system, or meet a need, perhaps the biggest difference our actions make is to identify us as being on the side of justice, compassion, and inclusiveness. When we act in cooperation with others, we proclaim that the life and nature of God is relational. We are most powerful when we identify ourselves with God's dream of Shalom and act because of that identity.

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

FYI - Jack has published several articles at: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jack_F_Price

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