It really boils down to this: that all life is
interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in
a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all
indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure
of reality.
Martin Luther King, Jr., “A
Christmas Sermon on Peace,”
in The Trumpet of Conscience
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), 70, 71.
________________________________
my mind awakens
and gropes its way
through a never-ending darkness
a never-ending sameness
the same small world
virus shaped
the same small study
the same desk
the same routine
life narrowed down
a world unraveling
that is it, really
the cause of my ennui
separation!
that loss of connection
with what is Sacred
with one another
we have chosen to believe that the way to find the self
is to separate ourselves from others
trapped in delusional and toxic individualism
we have come to believe that the way to benefit ourselves
is to focus on what we believe benefits us
to the exclusion of others
we have resolved to keep ourselves safe by intimidating
and threatening others
we are lying to ourselves
and we have lost the dream
the dream of common good
the dream of equality and equity
the dream of justice
we have instead small politicians
with small agendas blocking that dream (Manchin, Sinema,
the GOP, more)
we have small people with guns
blocking that dream
we have racists
blocking that dream
we have a church
blocking that dream
The word religion, at its roots, means re, “again,” and
ligios, “connection.
Our faith systems are meant to draw us together
To help connect that which has been separated
To draw us together
In love
Instead what we have is disligion (a term from Victoria
Loorz)
we have an alliance with the forces of separation
and so fragmented
we struggle and we suffer
Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, None
Republican, Democrat, White, POC
young, old, rich, poor,
all
all
suffer
and so in splendid isolation
free (or so we think)
dominant
armed with guns, or money, or power, or ideology
armed with certainty
we separate
and suffer
because we are meant to be together
like a body
“joined and knit together by every ligament with which it
is equipped,
as each part is working properly,
promotes the body’s growth in building itself up
in love”
(Ephesians 4:16 NRSV)
common good
fellowship
love
common sense
for what affects one, affects all
we are bound together
joined and knit
it all boils down to this
the only way we truly flourish
the only way we survive
is to walk together
work together
sacrifice together
“looking not just to our own interests
but to the interests of others” (Philippians 2 NRSV)
seeking safety, giving safety
seeking political power, giving political power
seeking wealth, sharing wealth
seeking freedom
but using our freedom not to “indulge in [selfishness]
but rather to serve one another humbly in love”
(Galatians 5 NRSV)
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