A couple of days ago, at 6:45 a.m. Cook County time, I attended (from my home) a meeting being held in Brooklyn, New York. There were 63 of us, ALL there, together, most of us strangers to one another. We were meeting in the no-longer-new-fangled method of Internet connection. At first it looks like a collection of photos on a computer screen—but it is live, real, with people from many time zones.
This system of gathering has lots of names. But whatever the name, each gives a chance to see faces (and dreams told in faces) and hear words (and stories with joy, pain or forced blasé-ness beneath them). What a collection of people and collection of sites: pre-dawn living room, back porch, kitchen counter, even a quiet garage corner. And yes, one from a warmer climate was on a garden bench. There we ALL were, together yet in our own space.
ALL at one time, we were ALL there, together. Clothing differed, as did skin colors, hairstyles, and manner of gestures. All seen by all—except by the woman who was blind, whose vision into each speakers’ deepest intent was clear from her response. And voices? Folks raised in Brooklyn speak differently than native Minnesotans; folks who learned “American” English as a second language have a range of accents. And the man who is deaf? His careful eyes watched the sign-language interpreter while watching the face of whoever was speaking—he “heard” in others’ eyes what hearts needed to say.
In the midst of this great moment of seeing the beauty of humanities’-oneness in-action, there came a knowledge-moment. Ah, humanity! Just as we gathered, others gathered in other “somewheres.” And “some-ones” in some of them are filled with fear. Some of those “someone’s in-fear” brim with attack-mode—physically, emotionally, spiritually— imagining they need to undo what God gives to All, in order to keep more for themselves.
It’s crazy, isn’t it? We ALL share in one biology and in one gift of Life, given by the Creator of ALL. Yet, we all have moments when we differentiate ourselves. Sometimes in humor that may also tell of historical conflicts (“I’m Norwegian! You’re Swede?”) Or of a prejudice we carry (“I’m from Minnesota! You’re from New York? Poor you!”). And sometimes, we know there is only an inner drive to lessen the value of another.
Ah yes, it can be easier to be part of a smaller “special” group wanting a bigger portion from what God has already fully-given fully to ALL. Oh that crazy God! Giving us commands to “love ALL, even our enemies.” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote that that love, for enemies, is the hardest to form, hardest to hold on to. When Jesus spoke of loving enemies, after all, he was including those we don’t like, those we’d rather not meet, those we wish would stay where they used to be. Rev. King said that command of Jesus to love enemies means living out of an “understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all people.”
How do we do that? Understanding and creative goodwill for ALL?
Well, at my Brooklynsunrise time meeting I saw it, heard it. One of the 63 strangers said “I don’t know you all, but I see you all as one in the same. Created by God! Beautiful to see, whatever the scene behind you! Your kindnesses toward ALL has just given my day God’s beauty to behold!” Comfort came, in those words, and call from God of way to be one-with-another, and with All.
Understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill… handed out freely across a silly little laptop screen. Thanks be to God! And we, dear ALL, can do this for one another, in this day! Have fun as you head out into God’s Beauty, letting God’s Redemptive Goodwill be seen!
Pastor Kris Garey, Trinity Lutheran, Hovland
Leave a Reply