You will be my people and I will be your God.  Jeremiah 30:22

Jeremiah speaks regarding the faith and future of a nation. The same God who existed in the past exists in our future. He sends messages and messengers to our communities today. What are some of the things we do at the community level that displease God?  Where is hope spoken in the community? Who listens? Who acts?

There are things done in local communities that are not pleasing to God. God is not please when we are dishonest. The truth sets us free.  We cannot solve a problem if we do not know what the problems are in our communities. Some refuse to see the problems because they have no idea of the stresses their neighbors live with daily. It is easy to criticize someone when you do not know what they are dealing with daily. It is easy to say parent involvement is need when your bills are paid and you do not have to work three part-time minimum wage jobs to pay rent and keep the lights on. We point our finger at our neighbors, but we do not communicate with them. Are we seeing their problems or are we looking at the symptoms?

Unemployment, under employment, education, drug abuse, mental health and physical health are some of the problems we refuse to see because we are all a part of the solution. There is hope when we all become parts of the solution. When we can communicate openly and honestly with each other, there is hope.

There is a song that says: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus love and righteousness.” When we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we are better able to work together to make our communities better. We owe it to the next generation to get it right.

There are many organizations in our community getting it right.  Some of them are Friendship House, Neighborhood House, Southside Mission, Tri-County Urban League, United Way, the Dream Center and others. These social organizations need our help. The faith-based organizations and the churches need to work together as teams to solve our problems. Will we listen? Will we act?

During this Christmas season, instead of concentrating on buying things we do not need, let us focus on giving of ourselves (time, talents and treasures) to many of the churches and organizations in our community to build a better place for all.