Weekend: Ripples

Apologies: there is no audio version available today.

Sometimes we just have to admit that the world is host to a lot of brokenness. I often marvel at the beauty of Creation, the goodness of people and the hopefulness of life but that doesn’t hide the truth that those larger blessings are regularly slashed and attacked by the sin and evil around us.

I recently learned that West Virginia is one of the hotbeds of drug abuse in the U.S., particularly opioid addiction. This has happened for a number of reasons but primarily due to the physically taxing work environment and higher risk of injury requiring medication. Then, a number of years ago, the region was flooded with prescription drugs and so the predicable complications multiplied.

Related to that information was a recent news focus on a West Virginia day care centre which specializes in caring for babies and toddlers who were born to addicted mothers. These children have special needs due to the effects of drugs during their development.

The day care is the first of its kind and there is a long waiting list of those hoping to access the unique service. That service is, simply, to patiently hold and care for troubled babies. These are everyday people who have seen a need and have quietly found a way to do what they can to help. Creating small ripples of goodness.

Naturally, as the workers were interviewed it became apparent they were passionately invested in their work but that they also found it to be difficult and emotionally draining work.

You see, drug addiction doesn’t just affect the user, it affects their children, spouses, parents, grand parents; it affects their friends and friends of friends; it affects daycare workers, social workers; it affects the environment, economy, community. Ripples of brokenness.

In a broader sense, any kind of sin doesn’t just affect the user, it affects their children, spouses, parents, grand parents; it affects their friends and friends of their friends; it affects workers and employees; it affects the environment, economy, community.

Imagine Jesus, Son of God, dropped onto this selfish, dangerous planet. On one hand he is intimate with the world, creator of its goodness, lover of it all, but on the other hand it is broken and abused. For Jesus to know how much goodness and joy was available and yet to live within its sadness and selfishness would have been unthinkably difficult.

So what did he do about it? He went around, doing good and teaching people the truth about God.

Imagine yourself, dropped into a high-density urban housing complex filled with violence, poverty and addiction, where normal life is so different from what you know. Imagine you have to find a way to spend your life there. Not a good feeling, right?

But here’s the thing: you have been. Just like Jesus, you’ve been dropped into the middle of a dangerous, sad, hopeless world.

Just like the West Virginia day care workers, the only way to make goodness happen is to stand up in the middle of it and replace it with grace and peace. Ripples of Jesus.

I’m not saying we remain silent or accept it or become part of it; I’m saying we overcome it by acting in spite of it.

Does that sound too big for you? From the Lectionary readings, here’s what happened to the great prophet Jeremiah when he was challenged to make ripples:

The Lord gave me this message:

“O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said,

We don’t have to make waves to make a difference, we just have to stand in our place and make ripples. Rebuild and re-water and restore. Make ripples where you are.

If God’s people will stand together, the ripples will cover the world.