By Lynn Buske, JONAH Organizer
Bible readings referenced below: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11
Sometimes life feels daunting, right? These days the tension in the uncertainty around us is palpable. You can almost taste weariness in the air. So much fighting and judgement around us, the fires in California were horrific to watch, immigrants are fearing for their lives and the lives of their children, homelessness grows at an alarming rate, and on and on. I know I don’t need to tell you. It’s hard to forget the challenges people are facing these days because it is everywhere. When we face daunting circumstances we hope to have the capacity to do something – anxiousness compels us to action. If we feel we can’t then it feels like hope is lost.
So what do we do when we feel like this? I’m going to paint my answer to that through a football analogy.
Imagine a football game. Imagine your team has a quarterback, a running back, one cheerleader, and no one else. Then, imagine the running back is struggling with a substance misuse addiction due to childhood traumas and is trying to stay focused on the very large task at hand – beating an entire other team that is fully prepared. Imagine the crowd isn’t there because they can’t afford the ticket, or weren’t allowed in the gates because of the color of their skin, country of origin, or gender identity. It’s easy for those in the seats of the other team to not realize what is going on for others and just take the easy win. But for those that see it and want to help their team do better – it can be paralyzing because one person can’t fill all the other people’s roles. We need a whole team and a whole crowd. Every team member needs to do their part.
Our society may feel like a competitive game but it isn’t. God provides us with all we need – as our bible passage reminds us today.
There ARE roles we all play, and they are all important in helping our community and its people thrive. Crucial, in fact, when all put together. When we work together, we win games.
We need coaches – not everyone is equipped for or desires that job. We need more than two players to get things done well. We need cheerleaders to keep everyone inspired. We need the donors who paid for the scoreboard and renovated the bathrooms. We need the fans who appreciate and receive the joy of the game, and are welcomed in. We all need enough money to get in. We all deserve, as God’s children, to have what we need and have support to get it.
Whatever role you play is part of the huge effort of us living in community together. And it matters. And it makes a bigger difference than you realized. Your role is needed.
Just as Mary told Jesus, in the passage today, that it was time to start filling his role because he was needed. Even though he started with wine – which seemed small, the impact was huge. And God was there to provide. I’d like to remind you that you also have a role to fill. And God will provide.
JONAH exists to make positive change in the community so it works for all. We do that by bringing people together around the concerns they have and helping them work together and look at upstream vision – the long-game. The root cause to why things aren’t working out.
JONAH is not here to ask people to do more. On the contrary – we’re here to have what you do already spread further, to encourage or guide you to do what you’ve been wanting, to have support from others to join you, to acknowledge confusion, doubt and exhaustion, to acknowledge impact and skills you maybe don’t see, to bring people together to address the things that keep them up at night, and to lighten the weight and the load by sharing the work you’re already doing or redirect it to have greater impact.
That might not feel like enough. You may not even see the results. But justice work can be like that, it’s often about planting seeds that you may not see the fruit of. It is enough. But we’re never done. And when challenges increase we need each other even more because the work increases.
Now is the time, with all those daunting challenges we’re facing to step up our game. Be sure to step into your role, join with others, stand up for what you believe in, support those struggling most, ask important questions to find out what you can do, but above all, keep doing what you can.
JONAH works in the areas of: affordable housing, child poverty, criminal legal reform, environment, immigration, mental health, transportation. But what does that mean? These are big problems. There are HUGE problems in the world. What can one person or one organization really do? How can you stay up on all of it or have the energy to help everywhere? We’d like to END these problems – but poverty and homelessness and mental health and crime and people needing refuge, are things that really will never end. It seems like a contradiction – to try and address the root cause to things we know we really can’t fix.
Here’s the trick – God is here to save the world. In JONAH, we believe we’re here to be an example and grow. To be love in action. To be connected and inclusive. To support through understanding and empowerment. To be WITH each other – not separate from. There is no “other person” – we are all God’s children.
JONAH’s method is to ORGANIZE people – we build relationships and fill teams before we take action. We get to know one person at a time and find out their passions, because that is where their role is. We connect them to where they can play that role in their community to their fullest. When we have all the players on the field, then we figure out what we can specifically do to address the root of the issues our community faces.
I appreciate whatever you do, and JONAH is happy to support whatever role you feel you have or even help you clarify that role. You are a crucial member of the team of this community. Together we create the community we want. Together we can make the daunting things feel lighter, more hopeful.