Each time a (wo)man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert Kennedy
Meditation: What would it mean if our small act of standing up against injustice had a large ripple effect? Two faith sisters each shared with me an experience from last week when they stood up against blatant injustice. They dared to advocate and speak truth to power. It felt inspiring! It felt like the church was out there in the world. Each of these women probably felt very alone at the time. But their courage is no accident! God is improving the lot of people through millions of small strikes against injustice. God’s Spirit is at work. Millions and millions of times a day, people (including us Christians) are creating tiny ripples of hope against oppression. As we imagine each other, hear about each other and pray for each other, we become emboldened. We are God’s center of energy and we are hosts of God’s daring Spirit. Through this Spirit, God reaches out into this world that currently lives in darkness. High walls of oppression are being built and blatant resistance to human rights is mounting like high fences. And yet, at the same time God’s Spirit is working on building a current that will sweep down the mightiest walls and the highest fences. Let us believe that we are not alone. Let us imagine the millions of sisters and brothers around the world who also dare standing up to injustice. One or two of us might easily be overcome. But not the millions and millions who God is using in this current fight.
Prayer: God, we are collectively Christ’s body. We are the bodies hosting Your Holy Spirit. We might not know all the millions of people through whom You are at work in this world right now. But today, we ask You to open our eyes. Today, we ask you to sharpen our awareness, so we might know that we are not alone. Each small act of resistance against evil and oppression is part of Your world encompassing plan. Together we, Your children and others, are ripples, we are energy, we are daring… Help us believe that You are working in and through all of us around the world to restore justice and peace. And we are comforted. Amen
The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. Ephesians 1:23
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