Answers

The reality of life’s wicked problems confronting us all should not be a matter for debate.  People are struggling to survive – in California, New York, London, Hong Kong, and India.  The battles are different yet the threat to living challenges those in rich countries as well as poor.  It seems as if there are no answers.  Efforts span decades while the numbers of those touched by the problem continue to grow.  Calls for greater accountability, responsibility, and action continue.  It’s clear the conundrum within the issues remains. 
 
I wish I had “the” answer.  I still hold onto hope of finding a solution in my lifetime.  This is a calling worthy of gods.  Yet I struggle to know what answers I can give to those grabbling with the realities of life’s pain, mountains, and obstacles.  With gray hairs and experience I find the answers come in two stages.  First, “what does one say to outsiders who ask questions?  Tell them, ‘God has established Zion.  Those in need and in trouble find refuge in her.’” (Isaiah 14.32)  Second, who occupies Zion?  Tell them it is you and me.  We are their answers.  We are here to support and nurture.
 
This is an awesome challenge giving shape to your mission and mine.  The call doesn’t excuse accountability or ignore responsibility.  Both have their role to play in every life in the community.  The challenge gives shape to the relationships which define us.  Nobody is an island.  Not one individual deserves to be ignored or remain unseen.  Everyone is a member of more than one family.  Between us there are answers waiting for us to complete.
 
I understand that this is a complex world, even when it comes to the community in which we live.  I find myself struggling to understand and find my role.  Yet within this unending quest lies some simple answers which give rise to action.
 
We can respond without knowing the end.  We can be sensitive even if we don’t have all the answers.  We can act even as we fight to survive.  We can live.