Impossible

When I get to feeling frustrated with the "way things are," and start yearning for something to change, I usually also get a sense of why and how things are resistant to change. In the church, in politics, or in human society at large, one confronts the reality that the status quo is often the result of a rather complex web of decisions and positions made by many people over years and years. The hopelessness of trying to change the system can become overwhelming. I often have to remind myself of what the Scripture says, "with God all things are possible," Jesus said that a few times in different contexts.  I also need to remember that one of those contexts was Gethsemane, when he was really hoping there was another way.
We have been swimming in promises and platitudes from our political overlords for nearly a year now.  All of them, from Ted Cruz to Bernie Sanders are promising to make things different, according to their idioms.  My own inclination is to feel the Bern, but I know that there is no rational reason to hope for him to win the nomination against such a powerful symbol of the status quo as Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hillary, for her part, is practically bound to be the bland, color by numbers politician that she is, because she is trying to break new ground as the first female Chief Executive.  It is in her best interest to market herself as competent and bland, because her gender makes her a target for enough bile and venom, all by it's lonesome, just as Obama's race has done for him.  And HRC has done a pretty good job demonstrating the quality of her armor: enemies are left stabbing at air and shadows as she avoids charges and suspicions left and right.
The stone cold fact of the matter is that the system will eventually sort out and select a candidate who will most closely fit into the machine.  Because systems work like that, as a wise person once said, "Each system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets."  Don't like the results you're getting?  You need to change.  The problem is we hate to change.  That's why having only Trump and Cruz to pick from is a nightmare for the GOP, neither one of them fit the system (in variously terrifying ways).  Neither does Bernie, but he's just the gadfly of the old Democratic left, he's not, nor has he ever really been the presumptive nominee.  Blame the media if you want, but the reality is deeper and more sinister than even a conspiracy of the Illuminati, it is the nature of systems to seek equilibrium, and change is always uncomfortable if it is for any good.
I'm going to switch horses here and talk church, because that's what I actually know about more than politics.  Every day I spend more time than is good for me reading articles and books about how things have changed and how that effects the church. I read lists of things that the church must do, or must never do, or things we used to do that we should do more, or things we used to do that we should do less, or things that we should have never done in the first place, you get the picture.
Very few of these prognostications deal with the fact that the church, as with any system is the way that it is because someone wants it to be that way.  You hear tales of churches that actually had the self awareness to recognize that they were unwilling to change, and so consciously made the decision to simply mitigate the inevitable decline and eventually fade away.  It sounds horrible on the surface, until you recognize that it takes a fair amount of courage and clarity to accept that as the truth.  Most of us would rather believe that we are perfectly willing to change, and we just need to read a few more lists about how to change and what to change into.  We need to know more, understand better, try harder, try differently, whatever.  It's all vanity and chasing after the wind.
What we really need to do is drink the cup that is placed before us. Take care of our simple business as best we can, piece together a vision from our lived experience.  Dreams are good, big ideas can be important, but they can also be distracting and numbing and keep you from doing things that need done right here and now.
We have several nearly impossible tasks as a community of faith:

1. Encourage people to change (in other words, be prophetic) without making them so mad they leave. Failing that try to deal with them leaving gracefully.
2. Insist that repentance is necessary and a transformed life is desirable without being judgmental bullies. Failing that don't be afraid to apologize.
3. Engage people in service and the work of community building when they already have way too much to do. Failing that, try and love people in their struggles, even if they're not ready to headline the next project.
4. Teach with authenticity and authority in a world that rejects authority and has nearly forgotten what authenticity looks like. Failing that, just try not to lapse into peddling fear and hate.
5. Do something, anything really, which most if not all people can sort of agree about, and have that thing be transformative. Failing that, try not to be an insufferable jerk to your neighbor.

Keep in mind that the system we're all operating within wants to stay the same.  Keep in mind that the people who make up your church community do not like change, no matter what they say. These things are only nearly impossible, there's always a window, but I cannot tell you what that window looks like or when or how to open it, I just know we need some air in here.