Embracing Change

Dear Friends,

The Sunday readings that come along every week prompt us to look at our lives through the lens of Scripture and in ways that speak to our times. For Jonah, Peter and Andrew, James and John, things would be different as they followed the Lord’s call. In First Corinthians, today, Paul calls us not to be too sure of the way things are – to let go of positions, possessions, and relationships, because in God’s own time, things will be different.

As disciples of Christ, having had the national experiences of the last few weeks, have we considered that we too will be different going forward? With God ever present to us, what are we called to think, express, become and do today and tomorrow, here in this scarred and suffering land?

First of all, I think we are not called to abandon one another – our brothers and sisters, whoever they are. Likewise, we are called not to abandon the poor, the questioning, the helpless and hopeless, the stranger, the terrorist, the enemy. Nor are we called to be resigned to the demonic in life – not to be fatalistic – but to be committed to justice and reconciliation, compassion and love. Called for sure, but hard work nonetheless.

To activate this commitment, we need to embrace certain changes in our attitudes and actions. It might be a valuable thing to consider what movements of grace are already stirring in us. Change is not instantaneous but is already happening in us. In today’s Gospel, the responses of Andrew and Peter, James and John to Jesus were radical, but each of these men had grown in readiness to accept the Lord long before they were even conscious of the changes they would soon embrace. In this time of new leadership in Washington, racial tensions, economic plight and the ongoing pandemic, what readiness has been evolving in us to follow the Lord more deeply?

Holy change is not instantaneous in us, but is already happening, and we’ll recognize it in ourselves when we symbolically plant trees and bury hatchets, when we look with love on our enemies and recognize that we have a part in shaping the Reign of God in our midst.

In our own religious language, the Reign of God happens when human conflict and misunderstanding are resolved into lasting peace and love. We don’t really talk enough about the Reign of God. Believers are prone to relegate it to some distant time. But the Reign of God, as Jesus would teach, is already here but not yet complete. The Reign of God becomes more true and real when we work toward life-giving change in our world. Fullness of life for all.

In faith, in this new time, let us encourage one another with words like these…

            Move on.
            Move over.
            Hand over.
            Hang on.
            Change when you are stagnant.
            Be pregnant with meaning.
            Partner with one another to accomplish the good.
            Let truth resonate in you.
            Don’t be afraid.

~Sister Joan Sobala