Vision

So...I heard a lot of npr today.

During Fresh Air, Terry Gross was interviewing Taylor Branch, who wrote a trilogy on Martin Luther King, Jr., entitled At Canaan's Edge. Branch was discussing King's famous Memphis speech and how he alluded to Moses...How Moses viewed Canaan from the mountaintop but never entered the Promised Land. King, who'd had nightmares & premonitions of his own death, knew that he might never see his own vision, his own dreams, come to pass, but that others must go on without him.

It made me think about the idea of "The Promised Land." For Moses, The Promised Land, obviously, was Canaan, where he and the Israelites could have peace after wandering in the desert for 40 years and supernaturally escaping the bonds of slavery.

For King, I believe The Promised Land he was referring to was an America where our country's constitution was truly true for all people, of all races...classes... gender.

But as I was thinking the other day about what is truly the best form of government...(thinking about the fall of communism; socialism; capitalism, etc.; and the quote that "democracy is the worst form of government...except when compared to everything else") and as I was thinking about all of the scandals that are in the news lately (can anyone say "Tom Delay") and all of the corrupt politicians in DC and all of the red tape that you have to cut through to get anything done, and the injustice of our justice system and the scary state that our schools are in, and the depth of poverty that exists in the United States, I was considering the fact that there will never be a perfect government because there will never be perfect people.

But there are good people. Who make good decisions. Who desire good things. Who want to make a difference. There are good people who have visions and dreams and compassion, and good people who are trying their best to get good things done. There are people who are accomplishing Huge things (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf being sworn in as Liberia's first female president today; Michelle Bachelet being elected Chile's first president--how wonderful is that?). I wonder who are the Moseses and the Kings of our generation. Who can see the promised land? Who even has a vision for a promised land? Who is dreaming the big things?

What is our vision for the United States? That every single person living in this country have access to education, health, a future, the chance to pursue their dreams? How on earth do we go about making that happen?

What is our vision for the Church? That every single person alive know how much God loves her/him, and know what Christ did for them? That Church would be a (unified) reflection of the love that Christ has for us? Again, how on earth do we make that happen?

What is our vision for ourselves, for our families? That we will all be successful and well-educated, and well-employed and well-loved? How do we even make that happen?