Methods

When I look around me, locally, in any big city or developing country, it is clear that the world needs help.  One too many is being exploited, hurt, or constrained.  The extent of humanity’s ability to wreck havoc seems to be expanding beyond everyone’s imagination.  Wars go on without end.  Inhumanity exists without condemnation.  Fear exists in every community. 
 
We, you and I must do something.  We cannot sit by and simply watch as if the scenes are mindless entertainment.  Yet even as I write, I wonder.  Am I doing enough to help those around me?  Is there something within my grasp that I am ignoring?  Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of history?
 
Doing nothing is not an option.  Yet what should we, I, do?
 
I grew up in an environment that said religion and institutions were the answer.  The rhetoric told me to “watch all the no-god worshipers hide their faces in shame.  Watch the no-god makers slink off humiliated when their idols fail them.  Get them out here in the open.  Make them face God-reality.”  (Isaiah 44.11)  I heard the words; yet the connection with the words and the actions I saw often fell short of their intent.
 
I do not believe the workers of that era failed because they did not work or believe with enough intensity.  The individuals I knew were dedicated.  I do see an element today that was missing.  God offers us the experience of heaven now, here.  The location God had in mind is not somewhere else, it in this place.   
 
God reality is simply this; living as a single community, treating each other as family.  It includes priorities defined by respect, compassion, and mercy.  It means being present for the benefit of our families and community.  It means walking with each other as equals.  Our methods matter, especially we shape them by our intent.  I know it is possible; I saw God in action on New York’s subway, in Redland’s streets, and through the offer of a stranger to one in need.  Heaven can be here.