I’m in a time when I find the complexity of the world’s ills to be more disabling than I like to admit. I know that I’m not alone in this. Cell meetings, peace talks, or any spontaneous conversation with a group of peace and justice-minded people can quickly digress into an airing-of-grievances session, where people of similar perspective affirm each others’ legitimate and well-informed frustrations at the oil spill, the Israel/flotilla situation, the military industrial complex, etc.

I think these type of conversations can be therapeutic in a way, as we affirm each other in the pain that we feel and the frustration over the limited progress of the justice we are fighting for. It’s good to be angry, and it’s good to not feel alone in this. But many of these problems are so complex and systematic that we stop there, overwhelmed. When it’s time to talk about potential responses and the hope for change, we aren’t sure what to say because we feel lost and powerless. I can’t say how many conversations I’ve left filled with righteous anger, but even more frustrated and discouraged than before.

Part of being a Christian means we have a larger narrative that gives us perspective on our lives and on this world. And part of being connected to each other is reminding each other of that narrative of Jesus, planet Earth, and our 6-7 decade lives of struggle, pain, and love. It’s hard to admit that we are not going to save the world, because someone already did. It may feel like a cop-out to talk about overwhelming injustices and say “God will make all wrongs right in the end,” but it’s not. Jesus’ world redemption project is not the illusion, our savior-complexes are the illusion. Always. God’s love for the world is real, and (s)he is asking us to break free of our dependence on ourselves, grapple with the way of Jesus, and join the party. Anger, passion, and educating conversations can help inspire us to get off our seats and look the Empire in the eye. But if they end in feelings of defeat, fatalism, and moral fatigue then we’re missing the point. Our peace of mind, endurance, and joy in the struggle come from remembering that we already know how the story will end. And it is our joy, privilege, and charge to remind and encourage each other that we are hell-raising, yet small parts in Jesus’ grand project of redemption through time and through all humanity. God is love and love will win.