Archive for the ‘By Nan Kuhlman’ Category
The Perfect Loveliness of a Sow
Saint Francis And The Sow
The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath
them:
the long, perfect loveliness of a sow.–Galway Kinnell
Poetry sometimes has a way of speaking truth that captures it in such a wonderful picture we cannot help but say, “Amen!” That’s the way I feel about this poem by Galway Kinnell because it reminds me of how each of us has the opportunity daily to help someone or something by “retell[ing] it in words and in touch / it is lovely / until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”
There is a power in encouragement and a kind word that is fitly spoken. Today I tell you, dear reader, “You are lovely,” in the hopes that you will blossom and share that loveliness with the world, as only you can do.
~by Nan Kuhlman
photo courtesy of sites.duke.edu
Our Brother Jesus Tells Us So
I am a weather watcher by nature. Given the variability of Ohio weather, I usually watch the forecasts in the morning and evening with occasional checks of the latest updates on my phone. I like to know what’s going to happen next. Though I can enjoy a good mystery book as much as the next person, I have occasionally flipped to the back just to see how it all turns out. To be fair, I did finish the book with just as much relish because I could watch for clues as I was reading that pointed toward the anticipated outcome of the story. I liked the certainty of knowing how everything turns out.
Life usually doesn’t offer us that kind of certainty. Some young people are facing the uncomfortable insecurity of what to do in life, while other people have medical issues that place them in a life-or-death world of uncertainty. Author Joan Wickersham’s mother was in this spot of not knowing the outcome of her cancer prognosis:
“Sometimes the only answer is ‘Who knows?’ My mother’s surgeon said this, when I asked him about her prognosis. I wanted to hug him, even while I believed that deep down he knew that she was going to die. But she went through surgery and chemo and she didn’t die, though the next few years were terrifying. Learning to live with uncertainty is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and I’m continually having to re-learn it. But there is also something deeply lovely about uncertainty: the possibility of optimism. If the story of the future truly isn’t written yet, who’s to say it won’t end well?”
As Christians we expect our faith to give us certainty about our lives on earth. And it does, though not in the way we think. Jesus himself said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). We often interpret the purpose of faith to mean that we are somehow shielded from the suffering that comes from living in a world that was created to allow human beings free moral agency. But that’s not the purpose of faith.
Our faith is not that we will be miraculously spared suffering, but our faith is in the character of a loving Father, Son, and Spirit who have included us in their loving relationship, both now and for eternity. Jesus endured suffering as a human, not just the pain of the cross, but also hunger, grief, betrayal, and other physical and emotional pain that we all know so well. Christ’s solidarity with us in our suffering is what he means by “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” In fact, Christ still retains his humanity to this day, seated with the Father and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and this testifies of the inclusion of humanity into this loving relationship forever.
As Wickersham points out, uncertainty does not necessarily mean something bad will result, nor does knowing the outcome necessarily mean that it is a good one. When faced with not knowing, we can optimistically say, “Who knows?” because our brother Jesus has told us to take heart. Life is a mystery that we can’t flip to the end and read how it turns out, though we can know that we are loved and treasured by God, and this certainty helps us rest in optimism. While the changeability of life can be like Ohio weather, we can’t watch an hourly forecast to see exactly how our latest struggle will be resolved. What we can do is believe that it will end well, despite any suffering we endure along the way. Our brother Jesus tells us so.
~by Nan Kuhlman
photo courtesy of blog.Cleveland.com
Real Joy to the World
Filed under: By Nan Kuhlman, Christian Living, Uncategorized | Tags: addiction
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We have just entered into the month of Christmas festivities, and traditionally this holiday spirit means holiday exuberance that is often expressed by lots of eating, drinking, spending, and other forms of “making merry.” For some, these activities can be considered an addiction or the powerlessness to carry out what would be to one’s ultimate benefit. I recently heard Pastor Rob Bell describe addiction as something that you do in your effort to find joy, thinking that this is the only avenue to the happiness you seek, except that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1, NIV). Bell goes on to suggest that because we get caught up in repetitive behaviors or mindsets, continuing to hope that they will meet our desire for joy, we overlook the real happiness we are searching for.
Though we usually think of addiction as drinking too much or smoking, we forget that each of us has an addiction to our own thoughts and perspective, and the crazy thing is, we are completely oblivious to it most of the time. Here’s what an addictive thought pattern looks like for me:
I want my children to be well, so I continue to suggest (OK, maybe strongly suggest) that they take certain steps, such as eating well, getting enough sleep and exercise, and other motherly advice. While this is good and necessary when they are young, my children are now young adults who must figure out (sometimes the hard way) the best path toward wellness for them. My problem is that I think that my best path toward the joy of seeing my children well is offering helpful, unasked for advice. This addictive mindset keeps me on a loop that I tend to go back to when I see them suffering, stressed, or sick.
What I must recognize is that even more than I want for them to be well, I want for them to embrace wellness as their own choice, and I know that it is a process that sometimes includes “How’s that working for ya?” Dr. Phil moments. Because I can’t just will myself to stay silent, I have to focus on the joy I’m really searching for – the joy that comes from knowing my kids are capable of making healthful choices without my input. As Bell puts it, I allow these competing desires to do battle, and my stronger desire will win.
Other times we struggle with cravings in our desire for comfort. Most of us just want to feel good, particularly when stressed, and for some this means another drink or a bag of potato chips or peanut butter M & Ms (my go-to comfort candy). When we resort to comforts that we know will not make us feel good long-term, however, we are shanghaiing the process of seeking joy in ways that will last. Once again, when we want to feel good, we usually mean we want more energy and we want to physically feel on top of our game. Our stop-gap measures, such as large quantities of peanut butter M & Ms, are not really the joy we seek. By recognizing the real desire we have (physical energy and wellness), we can let the opposing desires clash rather than relying on willpower, knowing that when we’re clear about what we really want, the practice promoting the best joy will win.
The key is being aware of what our truest desires are and keeping them at the forefront of our minds. Sometimes this requires some mental revamping, and contemplative practice (such as mediation) and prayer offer opportunities for that. Other helps that I’m trying include meaningful quotes and physical tokens to remind me of the greater joy I’m seeking. Bell mentions the scripture from Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” and he interprets this as saying that the Father, Son, and Spirit have created everything for joy, and there are many avenues toward that joy, not just the one addictive mindset or habit that we are relying on. There are other ways for us to move toward joy beyond our addictive mindsets or habits, and by seeing clearly what we really desire, we can break free and experience the joy we seek in this world.
~by Nan Kuhlman
photo courtesy of flamingotoes.com
Abandoning Abandonment
Filed under: By Nan Kuhlman | Tags: Christ in us, Christian Living
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“A human’s best chance of finding God is to look in the very place where they abandoned God”~ Meister Eckhart
Think back to the last time you screwed up in a relationship. If you really think about what happened, you’ll probably find (as I do) that in that moment, you decided it was all up to you, and that you had to do something, to fix something, to make something happen. The instant you decided to take control, you “abandoned” God.
Abandoned in this case doesn’t mean that you don’t believe in God, but rather, it means that you decided God wasn’t acting fast enough or that maybe you thought God expected you to handle this one on your own. And it flopped: you felt terrible and you made someone else feel terrible.
This idea of “abandoning abandonment” doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take any action or make use of opportunities that are presented. We often must push on a door to see if it will open. The abandonment I’m talking about often involves other people, and it frequently includes judging and strong opinions. It is in these moments when we believe our words will fix someone that we have abandoned God.
In that moment when you realize that you screwed up, there’s where you must look for God. In the moment right before you took control, during the seconds immediately prior to you saying whatever helpful (unasked for) advice you decided was necessary, God was there, offering a different way. When you chose to handle it yourself, you abandoned the guidance that was there to help you choose differently.
Rather than being discouraged, by recognizing that in an instant you can choose differently by participating with the Holy Spirit in that situation, you are empowered: “And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:4 NLT). Christ’s resurrection (which includes us) brings us into intimate fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Relationship has its privileges, and instead of looking at our participation with the Father, Son, and Spirit as being relegated to theological beliefs, we can view our participation as moment-by-moment guidance that only requires us to attune ourselves to the gentle whispers of the Holy Spirit.
This receptivity becomes cultivated through times of quiet contemplation and silence, so that when the heat of the moment arises and you and I are tempted to “take care of it” or tell someone how to live/believe the “right way,” we have the discipline to step back a moment. Instead of abandoning the wisdom and patience of God, we embrace our faith in a God who transforms other people (and us) through loving patience. Cultivating attention to our ever-present God helps us abandon abandonment and instead participate through loving restraint in God’s transformation of those we love. Who knows – we may even be transformed ourselves!
~by Nan Kuhlman
photo courtesy of fully-caffeinated.blogspot.com
With Honor
Filed under: By Nan Kuhlman | Tags: Christian Living, disciples of Christ, Followers of Jesus
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It’s 6:00 a.m. and many of us have been up since 3:00. The airport hangar in Toledo echoes with chatter, the occasional announcement coming over the loudspeaker. We’re standing in a long line, and from my vantage point, I see white caps on gray heads and bright gold t-shirts with a quote from John F. Kennedy on the back lining up to go through airport security. The quote says, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”
Veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, along with their guardians (some family, some newfound acquaintances) await the opportunity to board the Flag City Honor Flight to spend one day in Washington, D.C., visiting the war memorials. I am guardian for the day for my dad, a Korean War vet, and throughout our trip, I am struck again and again at the respect that is shown the veterans.
Leaving the plane, we are greeted by a long row of active service people, shaking hands and welcoming our group to Baltimore. After loading the bus, there are some issues with the wheelchair lift so we are delayed by about 30 minutes, just sitting on the bus waiting to go. Outside the bus, a row of active service people stand in their dress uniforms at parade rest for that half hour, solemnly staring straight ahead while it lightly rains on them. As the bus pulls away to take us to the memorials, they salute, holding the posture until the buses are past.
At the WWII memorial, there are a number of school groups taking field trips. “Thank you for your service,” a few of them tell my dad, shaking his hand. Later, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, signs posted say “Silence, please, as a gesture of respect.” Small stones are lined up in a row on the top of some tombstones, along with coins, a tangible indication of honor and respect paid by visitors.
We observe the changing of the guard, the meticulously choreographed routine that honors the Unknown Soldier as representative of all who never made it home. Normally, the sentry picks up his feet in a precise manner, and he does not acknowledge the crowd in any way. However, to honor veterans who visit the memorial, the sentry will scuff his shoes as he passes by. Those in our group, some in wheelchairs and some standing, hear a number of scuffs as we watch the practice of honoring in action. I am honored, feeling very special, and I am not even a veteran. When we witness others being honored and shown respect, it is contagious and uplifting.
This trip makes me think about honor, respect, and love, and how they are very much a part of the relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we consider the story of Jesus’s baptism, Jesus is honored by both the Father, who announces, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” and the Holy Spirit who appears as a dove (Matt 3:16-17 NIV). Honor and respect is an integral part of love, and anytime we show honor and respect to others, we are participating in a practice that started before the foundation of the world.
Your practice of honoring others might not take place on an Honor Flight, but it might happen in a long line at the bank with a teller who is trying to do her best. I might show honor and respect as I grade my students’ papers, attempting to find something they’re doing well along with pointing out areas they could do better. In our families we honor each other by showing little considerations, small gestures of kindness and concern. It is through these practices which may seem insignificant that the love of the Triune God flows.
The Honor Flight may have been intended to honor veterans, but I felt honored, too. I learned about the positive effect of honor on all those who witness it, and I recognized the goodness of God as it was revealed that day.Though JFK’s quote is inspiring, I’ve decided to tweak it a little: “A person reveals the love of God by the way he or she honors others, and when a person is honored, everyone including God celebrates.”
~by Nan Kuhlman
No Waste
My plans of BBQ ribs on Memorial Day went up in smoke—almost. It would be more accurate to say they went up in flames. Hindsight tells me that the ribs I bought were too fatty, that I should have baked them longer, that maybe I should have tried parboiling them. My husband was truly gallant (or maybe just hungry), but he ate two or three chunks before he offered our kids and their out-of-town friend a meal at Applebee’s, recognizing that not everyone enjoys blackened food. He insists they were great, but he has always been a fan of burned food (one of the reasons for our long-lasting marriage).
I was determined not to waste those ribs, so the next day I removed most of the burned portions and put them in a crockpot, making BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Though still a little fatty (some things you just can’t change), I managed to salvage a meal out of what appeared to be inedible at first glance. I always call “leftovers” an “effective utilization of resources,” and I think that God is also an effective utilizer of resources, even when something appears not to be salvageable.
Someone I love and admire disappointed me with the choices he/she made and the resulting negative consequences. I look at that mess, and I say, “I don’t see how anything good can come out of this.” That’s because I’m not looking at it like I viewed those flambéed ribs. God sees our lives, complete with all our imperfections and bad choices, and says, “OK. Time to pull out the crockpot, let that simmer a while, and make something new out it.”
Just as I was determined not to waste the money I spent buying two whole racks of ribs, so the Father, Son, and Spirit are determined that nothing in our lives is wasted and that all is ultimately used to reveal how deeply and profoundly we are loved. In fact, everything has been purposed to be unified in Christ:
he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10, NIV)
Does that mean that believers don’t suffer or make poor choices? Unfortunately not. But the verses from Ephesians tell us that our stories, with their good news and bad news, will all be unified and made sense of in Christ. No experience or relationship is ever wasted, but all is used to bring us closer to understanding who we are and why we’re so treasured by God. Even when we can’t see how something can be repurposed, retold, and unified in Christ, we know that God is desiring that all people should know the truth that they are accepted and loved (II Peter 3:9, NIV).
Though my Memorial Day barbeque was a fiasco, Applebee’s saved the day (as far as my kids were concerned), and I learned how not to prepare ribs. Even more importantly, I was confident that I could still do something with them, despite what they looked like. God looks at our lives, our mistakes and is confident that despite what they look like, nothing will be wasted, and all can be simmered into the perfection of knowing more fully our value as dearly loved children of the Divine.
~by Nan Kuhlman
Relationships + Sharing = Joy
I am standing at the kitchen sink one early evening in the twilight with the faucet running. Everyone else is in the living room watching TV or playing with their toys, so I have surreptitiously made my way into the darkened kitchen with one goal in mind: to savor a last chocolate truffle, one that I put back in the cupboard earlier when lots of little hands were digging around in the box, ultimately finishing them off.
I learned this trick from my hairdresser. One time when she was clipping away at my hair, she said, “Haven’t you wanted to really enjoy something good, some treat, without having to share it?” She went on to elaborate about how she enjoyed a delicious piece of chocolate while standing at the kitchen sink, water running to cover the sound of wrappers rattling and lips smacking.
So here I am, in a long ago memory, trying to savor this last truffle by myself, and though it tastes good (I mean, REALLY good), the experience of secretly eating it is lacking something. Joy – that’s it! More specifically, the joy of relationship that comes from sharing an experience with another.
The Father, Son, and Spirit knew this from before the foundation of the world. Because they experienced the love and joy of perfect fellowship, they desired to share it, and joy multiplies when shared. That’s where the creation of the world and the human beings who populate it come into play. We were created to share in their joy and their love, and consequently, share it with others in creation: human beings, plants, animals. When we dam up the flow of love by not sharing it, we lose out on a chance for joy.
Sufi master Inayat Khan (1882-1927) has said: “A person who, alone, has seen something beautiful, who has heard something harmonious, who has tasted something delicious, who has smelt something fragrant, may have enjoyed it, but not completely. The complete joy is in sharing one’s joy with others. For the selfish one who enjoys himself and does not care for others, whether he enjoys things of the earth or things of heaven, his enjoyment is not complete.”
My enjoyment of the truffle was not complete as I stood in the kitchen that night, water running. Later I thought of this verse from Hebrews 13:16: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (NIV). Though some might view this verse legalistically, as if giving something up was pleasing to God, in reality, God’s pleasure comes from us realizing that true joy comes from sharing and from relationship (which in my mind are almost interchangeable terms).
Relationship is what the Father, Son, and Spirit are all about, and it’s their desire to share that with us. Sometimes we learn the hard way, like I did at the kitchen sink that night, but sooner or later, we realize that our path to joy comes from sharing in relationships.
~by Nan Kuhlman
The Beauty of Sangha
Filed under: By Nan Kuhlman | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Followers of Jesus
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In Sanskrit, there is a lovely word: sangha. This word is used in Buddhism to refer to a spiritual community, a community that encourages, uplifts, and is kind to one another, recognizing a common journey toward what is called Enlightenment in Buddhism. A sangha can be a face-to-face meeting with others, or it can be online, where members post their concerns, questions, and encouragement for others.
In Christian circles, we might call our spiritual community a congregation, but our goal of comforting and encouraging one another as we more fully understand the Father, Son, and Spirit is the same. However, in Christian circles today, we find that the congregation is often more concerned with policing its members than it is with being kind to them. In fact, in the media or online, Christians are sometimes seen verbally attacking other Christians who disagree with their views. Other than extremist groups, one rarely sees criticism of Christianity from outside religions, but there is plenty of in-fighting. Where have we gone wrong?
First, we have the mistaken notion that perfection is possible. We want God to tell us what is expected of us so we can do it. The problem with that is that God doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all list for us to follow, much to the chagrin of those who very much like picking and choosing certain Old Testament laws to keep. Instead, God wants us to grow in our relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit and listen for our individualized “list,” the one that comes to us as we live our very ordinary lives. The prompting we receive shows us how to better love and be kind to those around us each day, and what it lacks in concreteness, it makes up for in the satisfaction of knowing that we have worked with the Divine in making someone feel loved.
Another reason our Christian congregations can lack community is the overwhelming desire to be right rather than loving. As we all grow at a different pace and in differing areas, we at times feel friction with those who want to hold on to the familiar, comfortable, often legalistic Christianity that is the foundation of many longstanding churches and denominations. I, too, have felt the impatience with those who long for the solid ground of legalism to stand on, and many times I just wanted to shout, “Let go! It’s OK to let go!” My impatience, as I later realized, was strongly tied to my need to be right, and not my calling to be loving. As with a typical human family, each member is at a different life stage (i.e., baby, child, teen, young adult, middle-aged adult, senior citizen), and each has a contribution to make. By realizing that God isn’t looking for perfection, just participation, we can better lovingly support and encourage each other, no matter where we are on the journey, by realizing that God isn’t concerned with rightness but our ability to love despite differences.
We Christians can learn a lot from the Buddhist word sangha, along with other principles we share in common, such as kindness, compassion, and contemplation. We must begin by first seeing our calling as a community of loving encouragement instead of moral perfection, especially as God is more concerned with relationship than moralistic works.
~by Nan Kuhlman
Not Either-Or but Both-And
Filed under: By Nan Kuhlman | Tags: Christ in us, Christian Living, compassion
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There is a logical fallacy called the False Dilemma, more commonly known as the “Either-Or” fallacy. This fallacy presents that for any given problem, there are only two solutions, and usually one (or sometimes both) of them is pretty distasteful. One example of this fallacy can be found in political ads, where voters are told something like, “Either you vote for Candidate X, or America will continue to decline.” Even simple shampoo ads convey to viewers that either you wash with Brand Y or your hair will not be soft and shiny. This fallacy has also made it into the realm of Christianity. When we think about the crucifixion of Jesus as the result of the wrath of God for our sinfulness, we are presented with an either-or dilemma: either Jesus dies for our sins or we die for our sins. Neither prospect seems like it would come from a God of love.
We human beings are a compilation of contradictions: we want the security of a savings account but we also want possessions; we want to work but we also want leisure time; we want to be thin and fit but we want to eat anything we want and never exercise; we gravitate toward sin but we are children of God. When we get caught in dualistic thinking (believing there are only two ways for us to be, either good or bad), we start identifying ourselves as being only one of those two ways. We either see ourselves as good (righteous, moral) or we see ourselves as bad (sinful, licentious), rather than seeing ourselves as the complex composite that is held together by the master transformer Jesus.
“For in him we live and move and have our being,” it says in Acts 17:25 (NIV). We are living and moving and having our being in a variety of ways, most of which contradict each other as our true selves wrestle with our false selves (our egos). “For in him” is the key part of this verse, as the god-man Jesus has brought our two selves, both true and false, together in him. It is no longer “either-or:” either you follow a legalistic set of rules or church doctrine or you don’t belong to God. Rather, in Jesus, it is “both-and:” Jesus is big enough to contain our dualities, and even more importantly, it is in him that they are resolved and transformed, put to bed, like the tired, petulant children they are. In fact, Jesus himself offers us the resolution of two contradictions: fully human and fully divine. By demonstrating his ability to hold together these opposites, it proves Jesus’s ability to hold together ours.
As we more fully grasp that Jesus is the glue to hold together those “either-or” parts of ourselves, we can better understand the crucifixion. We now see that it wasn’t an angry God taking out his wrath on his Son so that we could live. Instead, we see the god-man Jesus taking our contradictions, our good, our bad, our love, our hate, into himself and then rising again that Easter Sunday, transformed. “For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin,” Romans 6:7 (NLT) informs us. This setting free means taking the entirety of human existence, both the beautiful and the ugly, and transforming it all in himself. No more “either-or,” but instead, BOTH-AND. We are both good AND bad, often at the same time, yet ultimately in Jesus, we are transformed and included.
We can celebrate this resurrection day coming soon, knowing that all our parts are held by Jesus, both good and bad. What’s more, in him they are made sense of and transformed, turned into the good, loving kindness that is the Father, Son, and Spirit. No more being either good or bad, but lovingly held in the Triune embrace.
~by Nan Kuhlman
**Note: this post was edited for clarity
Binaries and Reconciliation
I’ve been thinking a lot about binaries lately, thanks to my literary theory class. Binaries are just another name for opposites, and some of the common ones we think of are black/white, dark/light, male/female, winter/summer, to name a few. What I’ve learned about binaries is that by studying these contrasts, we learn to differentiate between the two. Without understanding what darkness is, we could never really know about light, and so while it might seem that we could do without winter, we would probably lack something (appreciation?) in our understanding of summer.
People (myself included) wonder why God created these opposites, as it appears that some of our greatest conflicts are due to this binary opposition, and here’s what I think: God created opposites not only for us to better understand and differentiate the diversity of his creation, but also to show us that the Father, Son, and Spirit are big enough to encompass it all.
Not only is God big enough to hold these competing tensions but also is willing to do so, even when those binaries consist of sin/goodness or lies/truth. Many Christians today fail to recognize how Christ is promoting the reconciliation of all things, not by eliminating the unsavory or the different but by holding all parts of creation in him, as we see in II Cor. 5:18-19:
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (NIV)
Most importantly, notice that we are to do the same. Our ministry is the message of reconciliation, not judgment, not “my way is right; your way is wrong.” Reconciliation is being able, like Christ, to hold two binaries and know that all is well because the underlying truth is that the Father, Son, and Spirit hold us all, believer/unbeliever alike.
There is a lovely hymn called “In Christ, There is No East or West” (I especially love this rendition by Mavis Staples), and its revamped lyrics go like this:
In Christ there is no East or West,
No South or North;
Only one great love inside and out.
True hearts everywhere
Some deaf and some blind
Singing one melody lost souls cannot find.
Join hands, and have faith
Whatever your race may be
Who serves my Father as a son
Is surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both East and West,
There is no black or white
Only one great love hatred cannot divide
Join hands, and have faith,
Forgive your enemies
Surely we are all a part of
One big family
We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, both individually and corporately as a church. This means that we don’t need to persuade others to think as we do, but that we must participate with the Father, Son, and Spirit in comfortably holding binary oppositions, knowing that “all are a part of one big family.”
~by Nan Kuhlman