Simply Soul Searching
HOW IS GOD LOVING ME – AND WHERE IS GOD LEADING ME?
CONNECTIONS: OUR SHARED COMMONALITIES
Our family likes to play The New York Times’ Connections game. Each day we share our results in a group text, so I love that this game also “connects” our family on a daily basis! In this game, one is given sixteen words to sort into four groups that share something in common. The game challenges us because some of the connections are difficult to find and some of the words can easily fit into two or more categories.
Connections also serves as a humbling lesson in relationships for me. During the pandemic isolation and political division of these recent years–when the majority of my interactions with others came through social media–I struggled to keep from dividing people into US vs. THEM categories. Now, as I increasingly reenter community, I am reminded that I may have personal differences with someone and yet also find some commonalities. We all hold a variety of shared viewpoints, visions, and values; it’s impossible to completely sort people into distinct and separate groups with no exceptions.
Perhaps one step toward loving our neighbor is to first seek the things we hold in common. Where do we agree on societal issues, this life of faith, our hopes and dreams? Where might our lives lovingly intersect? Can we keep in mind that each of us belongs to the most essential and universal group: Created by God, Beloved of God? Last Sunday, I heard this sacred, inclusive invitation to gather for the meal of Communion…
THE INVITATION
We are here because Jesus has called us–
strangers and friends,
locals and visitors,
believers and doubters,
the certain and the curious.
It is always a mixed company that Jesus gathers and invites to his table, where, in bread and wine,
he meets us
and through him we, who are different,
are joined to each other.
So come,
not because you understand,
but because you are understood.
Come,
not because of how you feel,
but because God has food for you.
Come, not because you deserve a place,
but because Jesus invites you,
just as you are.
May it be so. For all of us.
The Invitation by Iona was found at https://eatprayloveliturgy.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/invitation-to-communion-2/
Photos by Karen
(In case you are curious about the answers. 🙂 )
Simply Soul Searching 
Marooned by the monsoon flood,
predator and prey
share truce on high ground.
Read Nevil Shute’s In The Wet for a description of this.
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