We are the change that the world needs to see…

“The real voyage of discovery lies not in finding new lands, but in seeing with fresh eyes” Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French writer

We hear all of the quotes that become meaningless cliches in our minds after a while…Oh you know the ones–life is what you make it, never give up on your dreams, love is the answer, and so on….

Without trying to convince you of something that you haven’t heard a million times, may I say to you today, that these are not mere cliches. These were the passionate beliefs of people who changed the world in one way or another. They ring true and always will. Just because they have been reduced to “inspirational quotes” doesn’t mean that we should not take them to heart. Indeed we should use these words to take us higher, to another plane of thought, the place where dreams are born and hopelessness is not an option.

Are you feeling less than hopeful today? Have you lost your spark, your fire, and your tenacity somewhere down the line? New life can be breathed into your dreams, you know. Nothing is ever really dead. Dreams just go to sleep for a while.

It is not that the simple principles of love, peace, and harmony have become outdated or don’t work anymore. No, it is you that has soured over the years. The disappointments, the failures and the pain have robbed you of your convictions. What was once a hopeful and optimistic view of life has surrendered to cynical laughter at the very remembrance of ever being so naive.

There is a story in the Bible that I am particularly fond of that deals with this very issue of dead and hopeless existence. It takes place in the “valley of dry bones.” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

THE VALLEY

The Lord took Ezekiel and set him down in the middle of a valley full of dry bones. He asked Ezekiel a simple but profound question, “Mortal, can these bones live?”

Basically, God was saying to Ezekiel, “Look at this hopelessness, this death; death of vision, death of dreams…Can these bones live? Is there any hope of renewed life?” Ezekiel, seeing the destruction and decay was falling into the same trap of hopelessness…His answer to the Lord was not filled with vision and a positive outlook. Ezekiel answered, “Lord, only you know.”

Amazingly, the Lord responded with a message beyond hope. He responded with a message of victory. “Mortal, these bones represent the people. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are cut off completely. Therefore Ezekiel, prophesy and say to them: Your graves will be opened, you will come forth from your death and you will be brought back to a place of life, victory and peace.”

AMAZING

Isn’t it awesome that God didn’t do it for Ezekiel. He told Ezekiel to speak life and hope to the people so their dreams and vision could be restored. And that is OUR job today.

We live in the valley of dry bones – this place of death

We live each day with the contemporary forces of greed, privatization, and violence as they continue to suck the life from us, crush the life around us, and repress the life within us.

The valley of the dry bones exists in 2009
And if you don’t believe it, ask the living…the barely living…
· ask those who suffer at the hands of others
· ask the person who slept outside last night
· ask the child who cried himself to sleep after he was molested…again
· ask the woman who woke up with bruises on her face
· ask the girl who is shaking right now as the need for more drugs is racing through her body
· ask the person who is praying that their HIV test results aren’t positive
· ask the marriage that has just been discarded like an old rag doll after 30 years of investment
· ask the teenager who is cutting her arms just so she can feel something, anything

But there is hope…
On this day, where we honor and remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, let us also know that it is OUR job to advocate so that those who suffer might stand – so that life and hope might come to the hurting around us.

Of course, just like Ezekiel, we are sometimes tempted to ask;
“Can these bones live?”
Especially when we look at our economic state and the lack of morality as a nation. We see a valley full of insecurity and instability. We witness the selfish pursuit of self-interest, prosperity and self-reliance.

We live in a place where we fear our neighbors, where the love between the brothers and the sisters is hard to find, where the tolerance of extreme poverty and the denial of help to the needy escalates to unimaginable levels.
It is the day of disposable people, disposable lives, and disposable relationships….Is there any hope?

Yes, there is hope. There is always hope. But hope will only develop into real change as we take the hand of everyone around us without compromise.

Get out of your cliques. Stop hanging around with those “who can benefit you” and start rubbing shoulders with those that YOU can help.

Together, when we realize that it was never was about us anyway…it’s always been about what we can do to serve someone else…When we realize that and act upon it, change is inevitable.