Easy street...Is that really what God promises?

It often seems to me that when things are going right we all have the belief that this is what is meant for us. The moment things start to go wrong we then bring out our prayers and complaints or rather when we begin to go the wrong way we then bring out the.... We always have the tendency to believe that we deserve and should live on easy street. No matter what is going on in the world or the community around us it is our prerogative to live at ease and not have to worry. However, sometimes calamity occurs and occasionally whether we like it or not such calamities create the environment in which we grow. In the words of the prophet Isaiah we see God's prediction for the people of Israel if they do not change their ways (Is 5.1-7). It is told in parabolic form but the message is clear. The calamity that is present within their own complacency to the actions of the community should provide them with a clear understanding of the future.

In living in exile and within an apparent desert we are asked to survive and gain from the experience. It was through adversity that Israel obtained a strength in their faith that was to become legendary (Heb. 11). The scriptural record and the writings of many since show us that the way of faith is not something that grants us an easy street living. In fact it is more than likely that we will struggle to ensure that our faith is proclaimed. Christ tells his disciples this very thing when he speaks about the division created within families (Lk 12.52-53). This scenario plays out often within our own lives if we were to think a little about it (and if you are uncertain what this looks like, look around when you attend a service at your faith community). It is so often the case that the commitment to a faith ideal is the thing that causes familial and inter-generational rifts. It is not that generational change destroys faith but rather about how that faith is expressed in worship and service. Our ability to predict how things are going to play out within a political drama or within the physical world is quite accurate. Yet, we cannot predict how we are going to react within our own faith to any new scenario or warnings upon the horizon.

Often in brokenness we discover God's presence

In some respects the evangelical approach has merit in their focus.on Christ for this is where we do need to focus, unfortunately by taking the human approach some of this is lost. It is the divine that needs to be our focus as we attempt to overcome the challenges that are placed before us. In all of our activities it is often dissent amongst ourselves that causes the greatest grief to those things that come from God. In our divisions we create the seeds for our own destruction and for the desert into which we enter. Our resolve must first be focused on God and then secondarily upon the community that we make in God's presence. If we loose these foci then we tear down the walls of relationship that protect us from chaos and the descent into barbarity. Just as God tears down the protective wall of the vineyard in the Isaiah passage (5.5-7) so to we tear down the walls that form community rather than reaching out and strengthening the bonds by forgiveness and healing.

Once we acknowledge the struggle we can overcome the heartache and battle on in the war to bring love and laughter into human society. It is we and only we alone, as we seek God's grace and love, who can affect the changes to our own lives that will begin to bring about the change that makes the community one of God's. Love is never easy and is often faced in the depths of despair and difficulty. At the darkest time of our lives we often find the brightest light of human love and enduring witness to God's presence.