I haven’t blogged for a while. I’ve been away; I’ve been sick. And I’ve been discouraged.
It’s tough for people engaged in
justice work to keep a sense of hope. Or
rather, speaking personally, the last few months have been challenging for me;
and there have been times in my life when hope seemed an elusive dream. As the musical group West My Friend sings, “We live on thin hope, thin hope.” My sense of hope feels especially thin these
days.
Where do I find hope? I’ve been thinking about this.
I DO TAKE HOPE from my recent participation
in the Inspire conference held at St.
Andrew’s Wesley United Church in late April.
I was one of the older participants in the Contemplative Justice stream
of this conference and I take hope that younger people are taking up the call
to live justice arising out of contemplative practices and community.
I DO TAKE HOPE from the likes of
Joanna Macy, who has written about hope.
Her latest work is around the Great Turning and involves 1) taking
actions to slow the damage to the earth and its beings, 2) engaging in analysis
of structural causes of climate damage and seeking to create structural
alternatives, and 3) shifting our consciousness. See her work at www.joannamacy.net.
I DO TAKE HOPE from the likes of
Vikki Reynolds. She was in Nelson a
while ago and presented an inspiring workshop on what it means to be a healing
community. She’s written an article
called Resisting burnout with
justice-doing. I really liked Vikki’s
words that “the problem with burnout is not in our heads or in our hearts, but
in the real world where there is a lack of justice.” See her work and writings at www.vikkireynolds.ca; you can click on
documents and search for the article I mentioned above.
I DO TAKE HOPE from Jesus,
especially the Sermon on the Mount and the challenge that this presents to live
holistically. I’ve appreciated John
Dominic Crossan’s work on distributive justice.
At the heart of Jesus’ work, building on the prophets and the priests
who went before him in Judaism, is the idea that God’s intention for the world
is that all life be lived with a radical equality, that life, abundance, hope,
love, and compassion are for all equally.
So, I write, listen to music, and
play a bit of music. I hike regularly
and engage in deep conversation. I pay
attention to what is happening in the world and seek ways to participate in distributive
justice. I collaborate with others and
try to be in community to “seek justice and resist evil,” as The United Church
of Canada New Creed says.
And, I try to do my bit in raising
issues that need our attention… things like ending the 50 years of occupation
that Palestinians have endured since the 6-Day war in June of 1967. Things like helping to create a more balanced
political discussion in BC that isn’t so polarized, where every vote counts
through some kind of proportional representation. Things like affirming the beauty of each
person and seeking to end transphobia, biphobia and homophobia (May 17th
is IDAHOT). Things like working deeply
in reconciliation work with 1st Nations, including the Sinixt people
of the Kootenay Region and protecting Qat’Muk (Jumbo) as a spiritual territory
of the ktunaxa. Things like working to create
an economic system that is fair and life-giving. Things like seeking to enhance climate
justice for all creation.
In writing this, it would seem I
have more hope than I thought. It is
helpful to remind ourselves—I need to be reminded every day—that as Martin
Luther King, Jr said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends
towards justice.”
So maybe for some of us, hope IS
thin; but even thin hope is better than no hope. And what’s more, all of us sharing our thin
hopes together… now that creates thick hope!
