The Color of Unity 

“If everyone helps to hold up the sky,

then one person does not become tired.” 

(Askhari Johnson Hodari, Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs)

"No - that's mine!" The words of one four year-old grabbing a toy from another four-year-old. Perhaps the protection of one's own property, space, or clan is built into our DNA. Casual observation would suggest that such inclinations are endemic to the human condition. Forever, humanity has been a collection of factions and coalitions bent on self-preservation. It just seems so easy to take sides on anything from the color of the carpet to political and social issues. 

Given that it may well be a part of our genetic wiring, perhaps it would be best to work with what we've got. What we got is that we are very accomplished at creating groups which we defend, sometimes to the death, and often very much to our communal detriment. The "us and them" mentality permeates the most basic levels of human relationships. Nonetheless, there is a great potential for unity within this seemingly destructive tendency.

 “Harmony exists no less in difference than in likeness,

if only the same key-note govern both parts.” 

(Margaret Fuller)

 Consider cells in the body - each cell has its own governance in the form of DNA and RNA. It is a separate entity from the surrounding cells. Even so, it joins with neighboring cells to become an eye, or skin, liver or bone. Rather than be in competition with surrounding tissues and organs each grouping of cells works harmoniously for the good of the body. Wonderfully unique, yet joined in common purpose.

 Likewise, I am a cell in the body of humanity, you are a cell, your neighbor is a cell. Those people whom you consider foreign to yourself are cells - each a part of the body of homo sapiens-sapiens. Problem is, humanity has an autoimmune disease and it keeps killing off parts of itself in some warped pseudo-protection mode.

 “We are each other's harvest;

we are each other's business;

we are each other's magnitude and bond.” 

(Gwendolyn Brooks)

 We need every cell for a whole body, even the ones that are a bit bent or malfunctioning. The bent ones teach us compassion, strength, forgiveness. These qualities bind all of the groupings of cells together to form the body; they are the ligaments and muscle of this organism. When we consider the power of the body working as a whole there is a strong incentive to consider building up the health of the parts so that the entire organism may thrive.

Humanity will quite likely struggle with the challenges of divisions and cliques for eons to come. Still, there is a strength in this if we allow ourselves to grow the small bits so that the greater community, the global community can be whole. It is well that a family protects itself so that a community can be healthy, and that a community protect itself so that the province or state can be health, and that a country protect itself so that the whole earth can be healthy. We simply need to live in such a way that the liver does not thrive at the expense of the heart, or the bones thrive at the cost of the skin.

 Unity in diversity, for the sake of something greater than the individual parts - Jesus' prayer for his believers, Love's yearning for all humanity.

 I leave the last word to the poet-mystic Rumi:

 “Like a sculptor, if necessary,

carve a friend out of stone.

Realize that your inner sight is blind

and try to see a treasure in everyone.” 

(Rumi)

The color of unity...

infinite expression, one source.

Rope

Is strong

Because

Many

Strands

Bind together

We are

Ropes

Of

Love

Love

Laugh

Pray

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: " I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." (1 Corinthians 1.10)

- From Akan Proverbs in Ghana: "It is because one antelope will blow the dust from the other's eye that two antelopes walk together." (African Traditional Religions)

- From Confucianism:
"Abruptly he [King Hsiang] asked me,

"Through what can the Empire be settled?"
"Through unity," I said.
"Who can unite it?"
"One who is not fond of killing can unite it," I said.
(Confucianism. Mencius I.A.6)

The Color of Atonement

"I the Lord your God am a jealous God,

visiting the sins of the fathers on the children

to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me…”

(Exodus 20.5-6)

Last Saturday I participated in a first nations "water ceremony" at the home of Roy and Judy Louis along the banks of the Battle River - a blessing and honoring of earth's gift of life to us. The Louis farm is on Maskwacis land (meaning "bend in the river"); land that was long ago set aside as an "Indian reserve." Among the many speakers for the day was an aboriginal Australian named John Clarke, grandson of author Banjo Clarke. Banjo's autobiography (published posthumously) entitled, Wisdom Man, tells the story of Australia's indigenous peoples and their struggles in the face of the effects of European colonialism. Banjo's story directly mirrors the path of Canadian aboriginal communities - stories of oppression, loss, hope and passion.

I am deeply saddened by the actions of my European ancestors as they spread across the earth during the colonial period. Everywhere they touched down they brought annihilation to people, culture, community, and ecology. The ripple effect of colonialism continues to touch the lives of millions of human beings today as government policies and common prejudice restrict access to basic human rights in numerous countries, including Canada. 

The hurt poured out upon the earth by our European ancestors has indeed been visited upon the children of indigenous peoples to the third and fourth generations and beyond. It carries on to this day, patterns of brokenness that fill our jails, our soup kitchens, our women's shelters. In the face of such overwhelming sorrow I wonder from where will atonement be found?

“I want to try making things right

because picking up the pieces

is way better than leaving them the way they are.” 

(Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry)

In answer to my question two possibilities were given to me this week. The first comes from Banjo Clarke's writing. In the face of horrific brutalities, the aboriginal people of Australia assumed the position, as taught by the elders, that the white folk did these things because they were not fully human yet. These poor undeveloped white men needed compassion and forbearance so that they might grow into the fullness of their gifts. Consequently, for the most part, the aboriginal people accepted the pain laid upon them as the cost of compassion for the sake of growing humanity. It was, and still is, extreme compassion, extraordinary Love.

The second answer comes from my friend Rajan, who suggested that we cannot atone for the past, for it is gone, but that we atone for the present by acting in Love. He said that the ripple of the past touches us now, and that it is here that we seek to enact change, each of us living the values that undermine the hurt and oppression so prevalent in our world.

 Humanity, in all of its colors and shades, has brought upon itself terrible wounds, a letting of blood that cuts to the core of its heart. Perhaps like me, you would like to scream, "it's not my fault - I did not do these things!" But that would not be true, for all of us are complicit at some level in this unraveling of life's tapestry. So be it. It is also true, however, that each of us has the power to make change, to awaken to Love's call to be healers, to be menders of broken threads. Is that not atonement - that we acknowledge the stories of hurt, allowing them to empower us to acts of courage, passion, kindness, and strength for the renewal of all people?

“What happens when people open their hearts?"

"They get better.” 

(Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood)

Now is the time of opening humanity's heart. Christ came to forgive, and on the cross extended consummate forgiveness to all people of all time. We have been set free from the deeds of our ancestors, set free from the sins of the present, set free for the healing of today and tomorrow. What happens when people open their hearts? The world changes, the ripple of the past hits the shoreline of a new day and finally loses its energy. 

Join with me in a day of atonement - let this be the day that healing pours out through us, each of us, to renew, heal, and utterly fulfill the hopes of Banjo Clarke - that all of us would become fully human.  

I leave the last word to former US president, Robert F. Kennedy:

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

(Robert F. Kennedy)

The color of atonement...

Love blossoming now.

Past, present

and future

collide

in

one act of

kindness

YOU

make

the

difference

Breathe

Pray

Love

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5.18)

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4.10)

- From Islam: "O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance. Perhaps your Lord will remove from you your misdeeds and admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow" (Quran 66:8)

- From Hinduism: "Though a man be soiled with the sins of a lifetime, let him but love me, rightly resolved, in utter devotion. I see no sinner, that man is holy. Holiness soon shall refashion his nature to peace eternal. O son of Kunti, of this be certain: the man who loves me shall not perish. (Bhagavad Gita 9.30-31)

The Color of Doing Good

"Do not underestimate good,

thinking it will not affect you. 

Dripping water can fill a pitcher;

drop by drop, one who is wise is filled with good,

even if one accumulates it little by little"

(Dhammapada 9.7)

A story (author unknown):

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch.

Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work" he said.

"Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?"

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an 8-foot fence - so I won't need to see his place anymore. Cool him down, anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."

The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.

The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge... a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work handrails and all - and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

“Do your little bit of good where you are;

it's those little bits of good put together

that overwhelm the world.” 

(Desmond Tutu)

One drop of water at a time, one slow drip... fills a bucket. All that is required is patience and faith. The two brothers in the story above forgot how small actions can powerfully touch our lives - for good or ill. A single word can tear friends apart; a single word can bring them together. The good that we do may, in some cases be the consequence of grand efforts and expressions, however, it is more often the product of thousands of nearly unseen moments, tiny drips of kindness.

There may be times when you feel that you are up against unbeatable odds - that your endeavors will never see fulfillment. At those times think of a waterfall and its granite walls. A little trickle of water, soft and gentle, pours over a cliff face for thousands of years, and the granite walls of the cliff, the very bones of the earth, are eroded one molecule at a time. You are water - changing, flexible, moving... life giving. Everything that you come up against will, in time, yield to Love's touch through you. 

“How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a weary world.” 

(William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)

There are forces at work in our world that would unravel the tapestry of our healing; forces that are powerful, dark, overwhelming. These forces, though, are less formidable in the face of Christ's Love than is granite before water. Some changes will take many generations of quiet, persistent acts of kindness to see the darkness worn away; so be it. Just know that every act of compassion, forgiveness, and Love that Spirit pours onto the world through your heart pushes back the darkness. 

I leave the last word to Jesus, whose life was water to the granite of our soul:

"What shall we say the kingdom of God is like...? 

It is like a mustard seed,

which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 

Yet when planted,

it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants,

with such big branches

that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

(Mark 4.30-32)

The color of doing good...

the first step in a journey of 1000 steps.

No known power

will

stand against

time

and

persistence

Drip

Drip

Drip

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for..." (Job 6.8a)

- From Islam: "Patiently, then, persevere – for the Promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your faults, and celebrate the praises of your Lord in the evening and in the morning.” (Quran 40:55)

- From Current wisdom: "I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.” (Marie Curie)