Do we really make a difference??

I've been sitting on the couch ... okay, I've been lying on the couch the last couple of days - laid low by a cold or some sort of bug ... and I've been reflecting on what it is that we keep ourselves busy with ...

We scurry around - filling our lives with activity and busy-ness. But do we accomplish anything??

The church I serve, has a food cupboard to offer help to people in need, but often we struggle with the "what to do" around abuses that we witness ...

The greater Church in which I hang my hat (so too speak) has all kind of programmes and ministries to care for the marginalized and the overlooked, but I wonder if it really makes any difference ...

I found a great note on the blog of a friend that said that while most of us have been busy debating and arguing over things like same-sex marriage and wishing one another a Merry CHRISTmas, groups like Sojourners' have been busy demonstrating on behalf of the poor in the US. That comment disturbed me, not because I disagree with it - but because he hit the nail on the head.

Too often we are busy arguing and debating stuff that really doesn't matter ... Kind of a modern Nero fiddling while Rome burns ...

Where I sit today I see around me deep concern for the rural farms and the way of life family farms represent - yet, there seems to be nothing that we can do to change the "way things are" and help the farmers being ground up by the market forces of the global economy ...

Why does the Church not get this?? Why can't we begin to look beyond our petty squabbles, and start bringing the change to the world we so desperately yearn for ???

I'm feeling very cynical today ... I don't know if we can really make a difference, but my conscience and my family and my faith (not necessarily in that order) won't let me give up the fight yet ... I want to spend more of my time focused on the issues that make a difference, and less time arguing over theological differences ...

I want to make a difference - even if it is a little difference ...
May God guide me on this path ... and May God guide others to join me ...

Dayenu,