What Can We Do?

"The time is always right to do what's right." The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offered this guidance 60 years ago during a speech at Oberlin College, a truth he had shared on multiple occasions. He was encouraging Americans to become actively engaged in the ongoing struggle for freedom and against racism and other expressions of fear-based hate. Too often, he explained, those who are oppressed are told to wait for change to come. Too often, he noted, caring people who have the power and the opportunity to help end oppression accept the teaching that time will take care of things, making apathy a norm. His call to action is as true today as ever, as human rights violations continue to plague our lives in shocking ways. 

When we look around and notice that individuals and groups are excluded from opportunities enjoyed by others, it is fitting for us to feel the urge to help. When we see others being targeted because of their race, where they were born (including into poverty), their sexual identity, or any other aspect of their personhood, I believe it is a stirring of God's Spirit in us that compels us to stand with them and to strive for equity on their behalf.

The Good News heralds the gift of God's love for all, God's goodness in and through all that exists. When we see or hear people undermining or contradicting this core truth by striving to devalue any other individual or group, we are right to resist it. Rev. Dr. King also wrote that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." It is a beautiful and restorative practice for us to join together regularly to work toward justice for all: the poor, LGBTQ+, veterans, the poor, immigrants, people struggling with substance use, those without homes, and more. 

If you agree with this sense that everyone has value and deserves to live without oppression and hatred, I would love to talk with you about specific, immediate action we may take together to help make it happen. It's clear that we cannot do everything. But it is clearer still that we are called to do something out of our love, and our doing so undoubtedly helps make for a more beautiful and just world. It's never the wrong time for such action.