Bringing Faith to Life
Archive for April, 2018
Who is at the door?
0We endanger ourselves
when we choose only what suits us
and toss what doesn’t serve us.
Lord,
help me be one who
welcomes the other way;
one who engages
the different approach.
Cause me to open my door
to accountability come /knocking/
just as I would to \confirmation\
come calling.
It is by both of these
that you show me my way
to You.
Amen
Can we live together, the Earth and I?
0From the vantage point of our Silver Line metro rail car,
we traverse Tyson’s Corner, and survey the expanse.
Towering glass buildings and tangled roadways,
elbowing out the newly-leafed trees and occasional grass
who are gamely attempting to stand their ground.
“How can people not see that we are the bacteria which has infected the land?”
my daughter asks.
Seems an apt observation for this Earth Day 2018.
We needy newcomers have overrun this place.
A distant memory it is, for those who conceived and pioneered it,
when the greenery of living kind opened its door in welcome.
They were here first.
What right do we have…
to take without giving?
to use without replacing?
to squander what’s precious?
to extinguish what’s in limited supply?
What right?
What must the bird think from her, er, birds-eye view,
of the constructed landscape etching out the vanishing majesty?
What must its Creator think from His vantage point,
of the decision to entrust dominion over it to humankind?
Can we live together, you and I?
Where do you do your best growing?
1
Our normal is dichotomy. We define who we are in distinction from who or what we are not. It’s the way we were born. The way we learned to discern our place in the world. I am distinct from my mother. I am one with my fingers and toes. They are me.
Who is me? The list of ways I may distinguish myself is long and growing longer:
homed or homeless
white or non-white
wealthy or impoverished
introverted or extroverted
middle western or northeastern/southern/western
traditional or non-traditional
teacher or learner
adult or child
scientist or artist
thinker or do-er
churched or non-churched
female or male
sporty or sport-free
English-speaking or non-English speaking
American or world-citizen
married or single/divorced/widowed
young or old
free or bound/confined/constrained
Yet….
my places of most growth are places of “opposition.”
As a person with a home,
I learn the most about patterns of need
from the homeless.
As a person with white skin,
I learn the most about patterns of racial discrimination
from persons with non-white skin colors.
As a person with wealth,
I learn the most about patterns of poverty
from persons who live in poverty.
The same holds true for every condition I can list.
And more I have left off the list I am sure.
What I know is this:
those who are different from me, distant from me, or distinct from me, hold the key to my growing in faith, in courage, in knowledge, in understanding, in action, in intention, and in truth.
I owe it to myself to get to know them.