We

I was watching a bit of a discussion on a local news feed about the civil unions/gay marriage bill in DC this morning. Unfortunately, it was mostly the same tired arguments but what struck me was that we can either argue as "us" and "them" or we can live as we.

By that I do not mean we shoud suddenly all agree or change our tack but that our underlying assumption of inter-connectedness should be at' the heart of all out conversations. "We" is who we are - perhaps this goes back to ubuntu again - but if the person pursuing the right to a civil union or the person under a detention order or the person in jail are all part of the same "we" are all incorporate with us, somehow, then doesn't that change the way we are.

Of course, we are not going to let the paranoid person roam the streets suddenly - just because we can - but the compassion which we feel towards that person will change knowing they are part of us. Hmmm......sounds a little like someone we know, huh?

Jesus was into "we" - Jesus talks about abiding in Him - that is a very "we" sort of thing.

I think perhaps it is easier to see these links when we realize who we are and how we have got here. Most of us know how easy it would have been to have taken another path at some time in our lives, some of us only made it because of the love and giving of others - but somehow we forget that connectedness too easily and let go of our gratitude.

There is a great and well know story of a young man caught throwing stones at the windows of a church, the priest hauls him inside. The young man already has a record and is headed to jail for a long time - he is well known in the neighborhood. the priest looks at him tells him he can go free if only he will do one thing - this seems like a good deal so he agrees.
"Go and stand before the High Altar," says the priest, "and look up at the great crucifix. then I want you to say as loudly as you can, "You died for me and I don't care!" Then you may go."

The young man could not believe his ears and hurried into the Church, he looked up at the great cross and shouted loudly "You died for me and I don't dare!" - stupid old priest. But then he paused, looking at the figure on the cross, a man just a little older than himself, a figure looking back at him and it seemed like, no, but it seemed like looking at him. He coughed.
"You died for me and I don't care." But this time the words had become quieter as the silence of the great Church overtook him. Still the cross loomed before him but now something else, now it was as if the first rays of the morning were beginning to shine in the great window - the man looked around - what sort of trick was this - the the priest was nowhere to be seen and he looked hard - there were no electric lights.

He took a deep breath - stupid priest, stupid hocus pocus.
"You are not going to get me, you are not..." he mumbled angrily at the figure on the cross. "I am bigger than you." He continued,
"You died for me......." the sentence was never finished. He fell to his knees, sobbing, "I do care," he sobbed," I do, and I am so sorry."

Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread and one cup.
Though we are many, we are becoming one body, because we all share in Christ's invitation to one bread and one cup. Amen