I don’t know about you, but I have been overwhelmed with the news stories lately, that remind us that there is so much brokenness in the world. What I find especially disheartening is when different people groups are discriminated against or attacked because of inherently being who they are. These stories fill the news channels and internet and I find these stories and these realities to be heartbreaking. It is so not what God intends. God created us all in God’s image, and God said it was very good, each of us, all of us.

In reality, we all react in some way to those who are different than us.  Our invitation is to look inside and to ask ourselves in what ways are we afraid or what is it inside of us that we don’t like. It often has more to do with us than the other person.  When we deeply Iisten within and listen deeply to others, we are changed.  We honor ourselves and others. We learn and grow. 

I believe a part of this invitation is to see in what ways we are alike.  Do we not all love and long to loved? Do we not all want our families to grow up in peace, and to thrive and grow? When we respond to the invitation of seeing how we are alike, we are able to see how connected we really are to each other.  We belong to each other. We can celebrate what we have in common and learn from our differences.

So when I am feeling overwhelmed, and pleading to God to intervene in the heartbreaking realities around the world, I remember that God is within me and within you. God uses our hands and feet and voices to comfort the brokenhearted, to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, minister to the poor, and welcome the stranger in our land.  And it is because our liberation  is caught up in their liberation. There is not one without the other.

Years ago a friend of mine taught me the song, “No Basta Rezar”, which means it is not enough to pray. Sometimes our prayers need hands and feet, and God desires to use us to bring relief and comfort and help.

So join me will you, in seeking to grow and learn from how we are different and celebrating the ways in which we are the same?  Will you join me in reaching out to those who are discriminated against and stand with them, joining our voices to theirs? Will you join me in being the hands and feet of God? Together we can make a difference.