This morning we considered what it costs to bring about change, inspired by the story of Rosa Parks and her role in the American Civil Rights movement.
"You cannot change the future without disturbing the present."
This sounds great, until we get disturbed!
"If I want pure gold, I've got to take the heat and let it melt my heart as I'm refined."
Rosa Parks dreamed of a new world and refused to accept the status quo of a racist society.
"The only difference between COMPLIANT and COMPLAINT, is where the I sits..."
"It took 3 days to get the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of them."
The process of changing the negative elements of our lives is uncomfortable and it's often easier to choose the comfort of nostalgia of the past or a romantic fantasy than engaging with the harsh realities of the present.
"Our greatest power lies not in who I have been or who I want to be, but who I AM."
However, if we want to see real change in our world, we have to be willing to get uncomfortable, not just talking about it, but facing it. Rosa Parks' husband learnt this lesson, as the brave stand that Rosa took, came with a cost, as this clip shows.
Rosa Parks was pointing out a negative that needed to change. She didn't just hold a conviction, a conviction held her.
"The Power of The Negative is a great tool in the quest for meaning, because it recognises the elements that need to be challenged for change."
Pointing out the negative and an attitude of negativity are very different things. Negativity focuses on moaning, using a negative to bring change, focuses on meaning!
It took time to bring about the change required in the American Civil Rights movement, but it did change, but it required some brave people to point out the negatives. Rosa Parks didn't just want a better seat on the bus. She was pointing out a negative, to release a complaint, to produce a cause that would finish with change.
Rosa asked her husband if he'd have still married her knowing the journey that would follow. The question for us is "Are we willing to faithfully walk with those who aren't satisfied with the status quo?"
"I do not wish to participate in a culture where inconvenient truths are carefully hidden, to protect some individual's or group's self-interest. I want to bring faith to the faithless, but I also want to bring doubt to the faithful. Only then can what sometimes may be painful truths, lead to hopeful possibilities."
We can be a catalyst for change in this world, as we point out the negatives that cannot be accepted and create the present that we want to see.
As this song declares "We know where we're going because we know where we've been."
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