Mike Gettel-Gilmartin writes: Here is a wonderful meditation on embracing the kin-dom way of Jesus in opposition to the way of empire. Unfortunately, I neglected to add it to the document I sent to the printer and so now have a very clear insight into fallibility and the need to ask for forgiveness.
From Elizabeth Hofrichter:
About once a week, I swim laps at the gym pool. I love swimming. The water on my skin. The pattern of movement and breath. The white noise of the water that allows for meditative thought.
There is only one problem. I am afraid of water.
I love water and am afraid of it at the same time. If I arrive to the pool and no one is in the pool, my heart races, I have trouble breathing, and I begin to panic. I get in the water and as soon as I go under and see the deepness, I can’t breathe.
There is something about it that opens my imagination to create all kinds of unsafe scenarios of monsters, deep oceans, sharks, abysses, and so on. There is no reason, no rational escape.
Everything in my body is tensing, the breathing is labored, and I feel an overwhelming urge to scream and clamber out of the water.
There is one thing that makes this all completely disappear: one person. One person in the room and I am slightly less panicky. One person in the water, a leg is all it takes, and I am even calmer. A few more people, and I have forgotten all my fears.
It occurred to me that there is a subconscious part of me that intrinsically recognizes the connected nature of my humanity. There is something about solidarity, physical proximity, and connection in this world, something my gut knew before my mind did.
In his poem “Everything is Waiting For You,” David Whyte says, “Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.”
Empire would have us think we are alone in this world and in our fears, needing to self-preserve. To embrace and live in the kin-dom way of Jesus, instead of the way of empire, is to recognize this radically communal design.
We become alert to our interconnectedness and we embrace it! We embrace each other. Who knows the power your “one leg in the water” might have on abating one person’s fears. Who knows the power of our solidarity, physical proximity, or just being present.
So, let’s engage in a communion beyond the wafer and wine. Let us go about our days and notice the interdependence of every moment.
It is in this alertness that we will see the needs of others and respond, we will acknowledge the imago Dei in each other and invite.
We will slow down and listen.
We will open up and ask for help.
We will hold hands and sing.
We will hug a little longer.
We will set aside agendas for relationships and scenes of order for experiences of celebration and life.
We will stop listening to the lie that we are alone and listen to the joyful reality that we are in this together.