Building a Wall

There was a country that was overrun centuries ago, and were carried into captivity by their conquerors.  They lived in exile for several decades.  Eventually, they began to be allowed to return to their homeland over the course of several more decades.  As they resettled their homeland, they found their capital city virtually unprotected, as the wall that protected it had been destroyed.  One of the citizens who returned to the homeland, named Nehemiah, decided to take steps to alleviate this problem.  His homeland was still a subject nation and was surrounded by enemies.  As Nehemiah tried to get a protective wall established around his capital city, he had to build support not only from the ruling authorities, but create an organized group that could work together locally on what seemed like an insurmountable task when surrounded by enemies.  Nehemiah encouraged the residents of his country to work in family units, and divided up portions of the overall project of building a wall among these various family units. 

Nehemiah was able to break up a daunting task into smaller, more manageable components, and organized the various groups so that together they were able to complete the task of building a wall of protection.  I recently witnessed a similar coordination of effort in Burlington.  On the weekend of July 18^th, I saw a group of churches attempt to take on the task of meeting needs in Burlington in response to the bus tour that their pastors had taken a couple months before.   These churches worked with the South Hill Neighborhood Association (SHNA) along with another group called Sustainable Urban Revitalization and General Empowerment – One Block and One Person/Family at a Time (SURGE-1).  Together, they spent a Saturday morning with 40-50 people involved working to clean up three separate properties in a small, two block area. 

Their goal, spurred by the bus trip of Burlington they had recently undertaken, was to take small, systematic steps to improve the Burlington community.  On this day, they were successful.  They were able to pull multiple groups together to make a visible impact on a neighborhood.  The larger task, though, is still outstanding for them.  Can they have a long-term, significant impact on the Burlington community and the lives of individuals and families?  That remains to be seen.  The goals that these groups are trying to accomplish require a long-term vision and a willingness to continue moving forward to succeed.  I will stay tuned to see what additional steps they may take.