Is there a "formula" for bringing about social
change?
In his sermon at our Holy Thursday liturgy, my pastor Fr.
Doug spoke about the Parkland high school students who are taking a stand for
change.
He said that prayer is important. But not enough. He said
"We have to pray with our feet."
Meaning that we also have to take a stand. And walk as
the students are walking.
This means getting off our butts and actually walking.
Yesterday, Good Friday, we walked the stations of the
cross. At each station, we stopped to read a meditation and sing a short hymn.
One of the meditations asked:
"How often in our lives do we come across unjust
situations and we say nothing out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire?
Can we summon the confidence and strength of purpose to go against the tide of
opinion and reach out to support the oppressed?"
Seems to me that this is another element in the formula
for social change: self-examination. Facing ourselves honestly.
Asking what we are afraid of.
Margaret Wheatley looks at the world today and sees the
telltale signs of collapse. In response, she is training Warriors for the Human
Spirit.
Her formula seems to be about transcendence not
transformation. Transformation, she seems to be saying, has not worked.
Our efforts to change society have not worked out the way we hoped.
Expecting further deterioration in the world, with
destruction the ultimate end in the next decades, her training focuses on
helping create "warriors of the human spirit" who will help people
through comfort, courage and compassion.
As part of my spiritual regimen this Holy Week, I have
been listening to lectures by Marcus Borg, the great Protestant scholar and
theologian who passed away a few years ago.
Borg said: "Christians are called to
participate in (Jesus') passion for a different kind of world."
Tonight at the Great Easter Vigil, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
His emergence from the tomb, like that of Lazarus before
him, is a potent image of new life coming from underground.
Easter reminds us that, after death, there is always new
life.
In the Gospel account, three women are the first to
receive the Good News. They are the first to see the risen Jesus. They
are the first to be "sent" to bring the good news to the
apostles.
May we too be sent and continue to carry the good news to
others.
