I suppose I have all these ideals that have to do with the church in Acts and the pastoral life of the Waltons and some Wendell Berry poems. But I think a better world is possible. I only see glimpses of it, though, here and there. I see it in the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) operations that are popping up all over the place. I see it in the Farmers Market in Tatamagouche, where hundreds of people gather each Saturday morning, even in such a small community. And in the places I least expect to see a better world, there it is: in the slums of Guatemala where women are given loans to buy a chicken or pig; by the waterfront in Halifax where people of all nations gather for a celebration of their cultures; at 16 Linden Ave, where a group of students live in community. I see it in the bright shiny faces of young people as they volunteer, spending time with disabled adults, young children, or sick or lonely people. I taste a better world when I drink fairly traded coffee or eat a tomato from the Acadia Community Farm. I read about people making the world a better place when I read books like The Irresistible Revolution, Radical, or the cookbook Simply in Season. I am thankful that business is being redeemed for the Kingdom, through things like TOMS shoes or microfinance. I hear the world becoming a better place when I gather with a thousand others to celebrate missions, and hear the sound of a thousand voices worshipping, and listen to the amazing stories of what Jesus is doing. Every time I see another bicycle on the road, I rejoice because that means a better world is on its way. I think we, as a society are growing up, realizing what the world was meant to be. I believe we as humans were meant for relationships, meant to care for the earth, meant to love God and spread His love to everyone. Yes, I suppose I am an idealist, but just look—just look at the way things are going. God is at work in the world, sometimes through people who do not even know they are doing God’s own work. For all that is good is His.
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
-Arundhati Roy
“yes, I believe in love. yes, I’m a dreamer. but I’m not alone, there are more of us than you suspect, and we’ve got bombs, truth and beauty bombs.”
-a softer world
