As we’ve explored in this series, Words have impact because they form the Stories we tell that define ourselves and our culture. None of us has the same Story because we are impacted by our life, our family, our genealogical history, and how we interpret the history of the world in which we live.
All this means that we too easily can start naming those
who don’t have the same Story as “Other.” Then it is a short step to un-naming
by thinking of them as ‘It’ (to borrow fromMartin Buber's book I and Thou). This is a danger because when we name someone as
‘it’ we quit seeing them as made in the Image of God. This is how slavery can
become the norm, how genocides happen, and how other injustices are
perpetuated.
Instead, we must allow ourselves to learn and even enter
into the story of one another. This is vulnerable work, and even dangerous
because it means we may be changed. Our perception of someone who we don’t
understand or who we think is ‘wrong’, or ‘useless’, or ‘different’ is
transformed when we hear their story, and ‘walk a mile in their shoes’.
It is true that we see life differently, but that doesn’t
make the other viewpoint wrong or evil. As the graphic notes, “Some people
could be given an entire field of roses, and see only the thorns. Others could
be given a single weed, and see only the wildflower in it.” Both viewpoints are
right, roses do have thorns and weeds are just wildflowers growing in the wrong
place.
In fact, if we’re honest, we probably have both those viewpoints inside us. Sometimes we see the thorns, sometimes we see the wildflower. Leslie Leyland Fields, author, says, “Don’t we all have many selves? Doesn’t summer bring out the child in us, the wild in us? Walt Whitman, the famous American poet says of himself, “I contain multitudes . ..” Don’t we all?” Summer, this wild island life, and a free gift! (mailchi.mp)
Fields is right, we are complex
creations. And so is everyone we meet. Every individual story is important to the
whole STORY of God’s love and kingdom. We each bring different gifts and
insights to the narrative. It is incomplete without each and every syllable of
each and every one of us.
If we can start to recognize the
many ‘selves’ within us, we may just discover that we are opening up to the
ideas and ways of those around us. The unfamiliar music may not seem so foreign
if we are able to think of it as artistic expression and hear the words which
may have a message we need to hear. The opposing political view may not enrage
us after we realize that the other person cares just as much about society,
just in a different way. A different way of worship is not evil, for God is
One, and certainly accepts a wide variety of seekers (probably even those who
don’t know they are seeking).
As we learn about the previously
hidden contributions of POC, women, LGBTQ+, and others whose work has been
downplayed or usurped, we understand the richness of their legacy. By honoring
their contributions we reframe the narrative from hurt into hope, and provide
roll models for generations to come (of all races and creeds). The list could
include the women mathematicians at NASA highlighted in Hidden Figures,
the black architect of Duke University that I just learned about, the Black
artisan who carved the bishop's chair for Christ Church Cathedral in New
Orleans, the multitudes who stayed strong in the midst of oppression whether by
slave owners, Conquistadors, railroad magnates, or abusive employers...and
thousands of others.
My story…your story…your neighbor’s
story…the stranger’s story…the ‘other’ story—they are all part of the entire
and beautiful Story of Life and God and Love. Don’t we owe it to each other to stop
long enough to hear, see, understand, and empathize?
In fact, God calls us, like God
called Ezekiel—to hear and to speak up. The voice said to me: Human
one, stand on your feet, and I’ll speak to you. As he spoke to me, a wind came
to me and stood me on my feet, and I heard someone addressing me. He said to
me: Human one, I’m sending you to the Israelites, a traitorous and rebellious
people. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very
day. I’m sending you to their hardheaded and hard-hearted descendants, and you
will say to them: The Lord God proclaims. Whether they listen or whether they
refuse, since they are a household of rebels, they will know that a prophet has
been among them. (Ezekiel 2:1-5)
How can we start to see another viewpoint and hear the different narratives? I think we need to enter into the story. Maybe some first steps are to meet, listen to hear, and act. I’ll be looking at these over the next few weeks, as I explore my way forward to seeking to be part of Kingdom building work.
