Things Don’t Get Better By Themselves
Luke 18:1-8
Let me be the first to say that, despite all of my anger at the wrongs I witness these days, it is so easy, and even tempting, to withdraw from the swirling rage of America’s political turmoil. It’s easier to to not pay attention and focus on something else.
And I think a lot of us are doing that.
With good reason, I would bet that the vast majority of people find politics to be too riddled with controversy, disappointment, dishonesty, and hypocrisy to participate in it (or even bother to vote on election days). And nowadays, I also imagine folks are exhausted by trying to dodge shame thrown at them because they don’t “feel” a certain way about something.
The amount of times I have seen or read somewhere “if you don’t feel x about y, then you are a part of the problem” statements is too numerous to count.
It has created an environment where less and less people are involved in the processes, discussions, and actions that actually lead to things getting better (or worse, depending on your values) in our neighborhoods, cities, states, and our country.
I have become a bit of a housing policy dork these days and so I have been aware for some time now that our city is having a conversation around significant changes to the city of Lakewood’s zoning code. It has been discussed as far back as February in some parts of the city in the public. I have been attending city council meetings that have discussed and voted on these zoning code reforms. This discussion has been dominating the city’s business for the past two months and this week was the final ordinance that finished that work.
And this week’s meeting, in particular, was stuffed to the gills with people who, over and over in the time of public comment (which lasted over three hours) said “why are we only now hearing about this” and accused the city of rushing things. And that got me wondering about how and why we can miss out learning about so much that happens in the world that need to stop, harms that need to cease, status quos that need to be changed.
At the end of the day, I think we have all gotten used to someone else taking care of it.
What I think we might have to wake up to is what the widow learned in her own fight for justice with the unjust judge in the Gospel of Luke. Things don’t get better by themselves! We have to be a part of the solution to the problems that we know have to end in our world today.
Maybe for you that means attending a protest, or a city hall meeting. Or maybe it means contacting your elected representative. Maybe you are called to create art that shines a light and comments on something that is in need of reform. Maybe for you, being a part of the solution is simply finding new ways to pay attention and participate in the civic responsibility we all have to vote in elections every year.
One thing is for sure—things don’t get better by themselves. They get better when we, like the widow in the Gospel of Luke, persisitently hold our communities accountable to a vision of the future that allows everyone the space to flourish and live full lives.
