Change

“Sometimes no matter how much externals change things inside stay the same.”
 
I wonder why I allow the clich? to be true in my life.  It doesn’t have to be, it isn’t required.  It’s almost as if I mirror the change, lack of it really, in the world around me. 
 
New York is very different from what it was hundred years ago.  Many focus on the physical changes somehow forgetting that the underlying infrastructure hasn’t changed in more than a hundred years.  I listen to the conversations of evolving neighborhoods, lost cultures and communities, and new opportunities.  There is no question that there are changes. 
 
Yet in the midst of new buildings, shifting demographics, and community investment, the underpinnings of this city have not changed.  New York is still defined by the people who inhabit the city, by the communities which defines its personality, and by the relationships that thrive in its midst.  In far too many ways the city has not changed.  It is still a city of immigrants – abroad as well as different parts of America.  This is a city defined by people in awe, swayed by wonder, and intrigued by possibilities.  Extremes are celebrated.  Arrogance is often admired.  Greed is a model many hold in esteem.
 
On might think nothing good can come from New York.  My experience suggests something quite different.  Just like times of old, there is much we can learn from and there are incredible windows in which to live and action grace and compassion.  It happens when we, as God’s kids, engage.
 
“At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre.  She'll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee.  But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God.  It will not be put in banks.  Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.”  (Isaiah 23.17, 18)