We Are One
Proper 7C
Gal. 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39
6/20/10
Lorraine Ljunggren

        I'd like to start with a true story – I know the story is true because I was there. It is summer in the mountains of North Carolina so it is still light outside. Everyone glances sideways at the Native American as he walks into the gazebo where the evening meal is being served. The usual buzz of pre-dinner conversation seems just a little quieter than on previous evenings. The tall, slender man whose long, graying hair is pulled back into a neat pony-tail walks with an unhurried grace and sits down at the head of one of the tables, his back to the middle of the room. In the center of the gazebo the evening fire is burning in the round open fireplace.

        The Native American wears a colorful white and green long-sleeved shirt with green and aquamarine ribbons sewn on the cuffs and across the shoulders – hence, the shirt is called a ribbon shirt. The side-seams of his khaki-colored pants are decorated with colorful border-like material and the pants are tucked into calf-high buckskin moccasins. Around his waist he wears a belt from which hangs a knife, the handle of which is made from the jaw of a bear. Also hanging from the belt is a medicine pouch containing herb. He wears modern wire-rimmed glasses which don't seem out-of-place.

        The man joins in the table fellowship and participates in the relaxed conversation of those at his table. He has an open and friendly face. The Native American, whose name is Sequoia Trueblood, is aware of the curiosity of those eating at the other tables, but seems very much at home and is not nonplussed by the stir his presence causes. He has come among the young people and staff of a church camp to share some of the spiritual traditions of his ancestors and to talk about the interrelatedness of all of creation.

        After dinner the entire group adjourns to the room designated as the chapel in a very large manor house. The room is long, with windows along two walls and French doors facing onto a courtyard. Darkness has now fallen and indirect lights cast a warm light over the faces of the campers and staff. There is a carpet on the floor so everyone takes a seat in a large semi-circle around Sequoia. Along the wall behind him he has placed Native American crafts and artifacts.

        During the next two hours or so which follow he speaks of his own journey to recover his Native American heritage, to learn the ways of his people. He teaches the group the word for God and talks about the oneness of every living creature. Sequoia speaks with reverence for God who creates all that is and for our Mother Earth who sustains the gift of life given by God. When he talks of how all of creation is part of one whole, he sprinkles the conversation with examples from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Testament and specifically from Christ's teachings.

        Much of what he says about the ancient spirituality of Native American peoples is based on respect. This respect is for God, for Mother Earth, for other creatures – plants, animals, and minerals, and for ourselves. Sequoia explains the inter-relatedness of all races of people in ways similar to the parables of Jesus. Mixing word-pictures and language of the Spirit with scientific data about molecules and matter, Sequoia invites the group to consider the fact that everything we do – every word we utter, every thought we have, every action we take – affects every other person and creatures in God's creation.

        In God's plan for the Earth and the peoples who inhabit her there is no difference in people – only differences in our cultures – which are but the systems by which we lives out our communal lives.

        Sequoia's words and wisdom echo Paul's letter to the church in Galatia when Paul writes, “…for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:26-29)

        Through Abraham and Sarah God promises that all the families of the earth will be blessed. As heirs according to the promise we share in the blessing of creation by God. As recipients of this blessing we are also called to be revealers of our faith – to make Jesus the Christ incarnate – embodied – alive – in the world once again by being agents of his love and by being responsible stewards of creation.

        This agency of love is acted out whenever we fulfill the promise we make to respect the dignity of every human being – both those of our own race and culture and those of differing races and cultures. Christ's oneness is reflected when we remember that everything we do – every word we utter, every thought we have, every action we take – does affect every other person and creature in God's world. This agency of love is most fully revealed when we believe and become one in Christ.

        The faith community in Galatia is struggling to hold tight to their identity which is handed down to them by their forebears, from the time of Abraham and Sarah. The challenge of welcoming Gentiles into the faith community is hitting the Galatians hard when their long-standing traditions for membership are challenged by Paul. The part of the Jewish community in Galatia which is also claiming to be a follower of Jesus the Christ is being asked to open the doors a lot wider. And, however excited the Galatians are about the path to God they have found in Jesus, giving up a way of life dear to their hearts – giving up customs which provide them with a sense of security and assurance that they belong to the One Holy and Living God – leaving behind a tradition dating back to their forebears in the faith Abraham and Sarah is a very scary prospect. It is no small wonder that the prospect of grafting Gentiles onto that tree of faith without the Gentiles being required to adopt the exact same customs taken for granted in the Jewish community would be startling and very difficult.

        And so Paul calls them to think in terms of being one people – to recognize that the labels we give to identify differences between people based on their country of origin, or their status in society, or their biological sociological identity, are labels of our design and not God's. This is not an easy transition – we find comfort in differentiating ourselves from others – it is a source of our culture's power to build structures of separation where some are held in higher esteem than others – it can often be the source of the greatest injustices any society has.

        There is more than enough work to go around – locally working for the children of our county to all have access to the equal education guaranteed by our State Constitution, or by working to help bring into being just immigration policies, or donating and sorting food at a local food bank, or visiting someone who is homebound or in a rehab facility, or mentoring a child from a family in dire economic straits. There are many ways nearby and far away to work for oneness.

        For those of us who claim for ourselves the name of Christ by calling ourselves Christians, our calling is to first be open to the love of God in Christ Jesus and then to pass that love on to all – all whose lives we touch. We are to be open to the challenge to structure or to change our culture and our society so that we and other peoples have access to the same benefits, the same opportunities, the same peace of mind. We are to claim the power of the Spirit – the Great Spirit given to us by God and show the world around us that the name 'Christian' is not simply a label to identify us as a people who happen to go to church – but that Christians are people of action know for love and justice.

        Let us be bearers of the promise of God who calls us into relationship through Christ Jesus so that we might care for one another and for Mother Earth. The same God who asks us to build who we are now and what we will become in the future on the foundation of love and respect for all in God's creation recalling we are all children of God through faith. And if we ever wonder why, it's because in God's eyes we are all one. Amen.

©2010 Lorraine Ljunggren