for those who do good in the face of indifference...

in the past month, and especially recently, i've watched good people who continually fight the good fight for the most vulnerable in our nation and our world, get beat down by the scapegoat of the economy and our inability to put people first in very real ways. Not that our economic crisis isn't real - it is. But that should call us to provide MORE for our suffering brothers and sisters, not less.

In my own life, I see many people trying to pull their church towards the good, and facing more resistance than ever to these "expensive" programs. Not that I think we mean to do ill instead of good, but just that we Christians have forgotten the very thing we learned again this Sunday - Peter says, "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality." And we ALSO learn that God is love.

Anyways, it's easy to get down when people much better than myself are losing fights based not on the opposition of a hateful few, but the inaction of many and the obsession with saving money. And then I happened to look over at my bulletin board and realized that I had put up a quote for exactly these types of discouraging times. Here it is...

"And yet, and yet, the times are inexhaustibly good, solaced by the courage and hope of many. The truth rules, Christ is not forsaken. In a time of death, some men and women -- the resisters, those who work hardily for social change, those who preach and embrace the unpalatable truth -- such men and women overcome death, their lives are bathed in the light of the Resurrection, the truth has set them free. In the jaws of death, of contumely, of good and ill report, they proclaim their love of the people. We think of such men and women in the world, in our nation, in the churches, and the stone in our breast is dissolved. We take heart once more."
-Daniel Berrigan.

So, thanks to all the resisters in my life. You're what I wanna be when I grow up...