Diaspora, Advocacy and the Certainty that Things are not Right Yet

"For surely I know the plans I have for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope for you, says the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11

"Diaspora is the constant reminder that you are not at home.  Are you in the diaspora?...Those of us who believe in advocacy are people who know that we have not yet come home, that we are still in the diaspora. That there is still more to do for the city where the city where we live to prosper. We are a non-comformist people. That is why we knock (on) doors on the Hill, that is why we write our members of Congress. That is why we organize communities and individuals to speak out about hunger and poverty, because we are not there yet." 

"Verse 11 of Jeremiah 29 is healing.  For this strong sense of the diaspora that we are experiencing these days  That certainty that things are not right. That we cannot hear the dreams of certain prophets anymore. That the voice of the streets does not agree with the voice of the palace. That it's time for a change. And this is a constant invitation in the sacred test: Do not conform the pattern of this world.

"Gracias a Dios, Thanks be to God, we come to verse 11.  For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster. To give you a future and hope. "