I suspect that humankind has always needed the skill of bridge building. Physically they help us cross bodies of water and deep valleys. I remember when each of my kids was in high school, they had to take turns building a suspension bridge out of toothpicks. Never had I realized just what engineering it took to build one.
Stories of Bridge Building
On May 23, a few of us gathered to learn how to tell our own stories of bridge building. Many of these stories were about two groups of people who focused more on what they didn’t have in common than what they did. That’s how chasms form in any relationship. When we look at what divides us as opposed to what brings us to one another, we feed the chasm.
This is an image Jesus knew all too well. “Don’t eat with THEM.” “Don’t touch him.” In each case where Jesus crossed a boundary line in his culture, there were others there to point out not what the other had in common with Jesus but what separated them. what the other had in common with Jesus but what separated them.
Common Bond of Faith
I wonder if part of our call as people of faith is also to be people who focus on the common bond instead of the differences. How might that simple change in our lifestyle reflect the Kingdom of God on Earth?
I wonder sometimes if we overthink our faith if we miss what’s right in front of us. God created all human beings in God’s own image. Scripture tells us that. So, when you and I interact with other people, we are interacting with those who share in God’s own image, just like us.
Finding Our Bridge Building Call
One of my favorite places to visit is the Peace Arch Park at the border north of Blaine. There is that beautiful park, often filled with picnicking U.S. citizens and Canadians alike, sharing a border that honors commonality and peace. In that space, it feels to me that our citizenship is less important than our shared humanity.
How might you be called to be a bridge builder?
How might our congregation be similarly called? And what might the world look like if that call took off and started to spread? I imagine that’s part of what Jesus wanted people around him to see. I imagine that’s what he wants us to see as well.
Let’s both create and look for it together, in his name.
Grace and Peace,
Leigh
