Last week I had an occasion to drive to Rochester on Friday. The trees were green, though fading some. There were no farmers in the field. Yesterday when I drove down to Rochester again, I saw reds and oranges and yellows popping through the fading green trees. There was dust in the air as farmers, too numerous to count, had begun harvesting the soybeans.
Change. We can count on it in the natural rhythms of life.
But some change requires our participation. I cannot lose weight (a change) without actively changing something about my life (food, exercise, mindset). I cannot change my knowledge on a subject without receiving an education on it. I cannot change the color of the walls in my home without actually painting them.
And we cannot change the deep-seeded racism in our country without doing something about it. We cannot change the white supremacy on which this nation was founded without participating in that change. After no one was indicted for the murder of Breonna Taylor, we once again know for certain that something needs to change in our country. You may have your opinions about what needs to change. I have mine.
It isn’t enough to just think those changes need to happen. We must act them into being. We must rage against the systems that keep our brothers and sisters of color as second-class citizens. We must actively work to change our country until every human life is valued as a beloved child of God.
What will you do this day, this week, this year to be the change to which God is calling you? What will you do to BE LOVE in our hurting and broken and unjust world? Whatever God is calling you to do, just do it! We can’t wait any longer!
Raging Peacefully but Discontentedly,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink