One of the books on my nightstand is A Touch of God, Eight Monastic Journeys, edited by Dame Maria Boulding. Her personal story is entitled, "A Tapestry, from the Wrong Side." She contends that while a tapestry is being created, the backside of it is rough looking with little hint of the beauty that is happening on the other side.
Dame Maria felt the monastic call early in her life, but it actually took years for her to find the way into living fully in community. When the Second Vatican came, she began to see that "the meaning of of the monastic vocation is to be sought not on the periphery but the centre (sic) of Christian life, indeed of human life and experience." She noted that as Second Vatican came to a close, a "charismatic renewal" was becoming influential, bringing a strong sense of community and mutual support. Yet, even then there was some discomfort; it felt to her that this influence still tended to be confined to to the "like-minded, those on the same wavelength." However, she also discovered that this renewal "led us to expect the healing power of the Lord in persons and situations and to understand healing as a community task."
As I ponder the healing that needs to be done not just in this nation of ours, but also the world, I keep being reminded of the necessity of being in community, of being in relationship. Yet, it is not just a matter of being in relationship with only those who agree with us. We now can no longer ignore that there is a great divide in this nation. How do we move across this chasm that has now grown large and rugged enough that, like the Grand Canyon (but not nearly as beautiful), almost no one can ignore it? While Dame Maria was not writing of our nation's current struggles, she brings up a beautiful point about healing: that we can trust that God is always working to bring us to healing and wholeness. She quotes John 5:17, "My Father is still working, and I also am working."
Healing is needed by all, and needs to be undertaken by all. The liturgy for this Sunday is the beautiful Isaiah 65:17-25 where we are reminded that God is always creating, doing a new thing, and we do not have a complete picture of this ongoing project. We are not all of the same faith. In addition, we are also of different cultures, backgrounds, and education levels. Yet, we are all part of God's creation, and God is still weaving us into this creation. We cannot find wholeness unless we find it with one another. I know some of us are shocked that we have a president elect whose campaign statements and bravado we simply cannot agree with. Yet, we have to accept that for now the vote has been cast. Without this initial acceptance, the work that needs to be undertaken by us all will be thwarted. Many of us are broken-hearted. No question. We should pause and take this pain in, but we do not want to get stuck there indefinitely. In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker Palmer writes:
If you hold your knowledge of self and world wholeheartedly, your heart will at times get broken by loss, failure, defeat, betrayal, or death. What happens next in you and the world around you depends on how your heart breaks. If it breaks apart into a thousand pieces, the result may be anger, depression, and disengagement. If it breaksopen into greater capacity to hold the complexities and contradictions of human experience, the result may be new life. The heart is what makes us human - and politics, which is the use of power to order our life together, is a profoundly human enterprise. Politics in the hands of those whose hearts have been broken open, not apart, helps us hold our differences creatively and use our power courageously for the sake of a more equitable, just and compassionate world (18).
We cannot yet see the whole tapestry. Let us follow the Apostle Paul's encouragement to not "vex the Holy Spirit," but rather continue to allow ourselves to be woven into God's handiwork. This is not a solo experience; we are being threaded together, even with those on the other side of the canvas.
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