What is our quest?
“…to heal what we have so disastrously broken…
To unify and liberate what we’ve tragically divided and
conquered…
To rediscover a larger and more beautiful whole rather
than pit part against part in deadly conflict…
It is a quest for what is named and sought in every
language and culture:
Salaam
Sidi
Mir
Elohe
Ukathala
Wolakota
We could call it peace… perhaps ubuntu, a rich word
meaning one-anotherness, interconnectedness, join in the common goodness, and
profound commitment to the well-being of all [would be better].” (Brian D. McLaren)
Perhaps we are looking for the wrong things
Seeking desperately, like a person addicted
For things that destroy
Substances
Power and domination
Wealth
Retribution
Maybe we are just not ready.
Somehow
Like babies not ready for solid food
It might be that peacemaking
The work of creating Ubuntu
Is simply hard work
And means we must accept
“inconvenient truths”
Realities that are harsh
And demand changes we do not want to make
Sacrifices we find painful.
Change is difficult
We are such spiritual juveniles
So caught up in immature quests for
Safety and power
Safety and power
Think on it
How many of the world’s ills
Come from people with power
Seeking to keep their power and wealth
Safe
Untouched
Spiritually trapped
At nascent stages of development
Where promise is
Unfulfilled
We see others as dangers
Obstructions
Terrorists
And we destroy Ubuntu
We can never stop evolving
Growing
As we stumble through
Our pursuits for domination, elimination
Us over you
Us without you
Us taking you over
We must move toward a new way
Where we seek
Us in you
You in us
Some of us for all of us
Something good for ALL of us
It will be hard to get there
To this Ubuntu zone
And we will have to work
Hard
To stay there
Even for a while
But this is the call
The call of Jesus, who says
Follow me
Live like this
The journey with Jesus is
uncertain and daring
Always
But it is the only way to find
Healing, unity
Liberation
And (paradoxically) community
Are we ready?
I hope I am.
I hope you are
It will take all of us
(again, thanks to Brian McLaren for his thoughts and
words, which I have unabashedly used in this piece)
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