When I was ordained a little over 45 years ago, one of the passages that were read at my ordination service was more a mandate than a suggestion for me and I’ve attempted to live my life and my professional roles.
I CORINTHIANS 9:22 which reads: TO THE WEAK I BECAME WEAK TO WIN THE WEAK. I HAVE BECOME ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE SO THAT I MAY SAVE SOME,” and I coerced my Seminary Professor, Dr. Newton Fowler to take poetic justice and add, “AND SERVE ALL!”
Over these past 45 years there has been much that has happened that has challenged me to my core to keep that mandate. When horrifically horrible things have taken place to natural disasters and our responses to them, mass shootings, bombings, assignations, and atrocities against humanity have taken place I’ve been asked not so much what do I think or what do I believe but what side am I on?
Being a hospice chaplain for nearly 31 years now, I think the number one lesson I’ve learned and re-learned many times over, is being all things to all people. If I just visited Christians, and not just Christians but Christians of a particular sort, I would alienate a large group of people; no, of course I won’t visit someone who’s been in prison, or someone of another sex or sexual persuasion or dying of only cancer or ALS or End Stage Renal or Heart Disease.
If you’re Jewish, I won’t become a Rabbi, but I can contact one for you, or Islam/Muslim, an Iman, or Buddhist, a monk, Catholic, a Priest. If I can’t hold your space, companion you as you are, it’s me, not them that don’t exist or matter.
Does any of this make sense? Meeting people where they are, as they are is a win/win for all, not because they are dying, but because all of us are LIVING. . .
I’ve seen friends and family not become friends and family any longer because of Left, Right, Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, he, she, they, them and when I firmly choose LOVE, it almost feels like I’m a disappointment; for coping out.
CHOOSING LOVE for me has always been, “BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE THAT I MAY SAVE SOME AND SERVE ALL!”
In a recent blog post of her’s, Regina Brett reminded me (US) a great response to all that goes against us and what we believe takes away from the World being a better place are found in these immortal words of St Francis, a kind of a spiritual Eat This, Not That list:
Where there is hatred, bring love.
Where there is injury, bring the spirit of forgiveness.
Where there is discord, bring harmony.
Where there is error, truth.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there are shadows, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
To give comfort instead of seeking to be comforted, to offer understanding instead of seeking to be understood, to love than to be loved.
Poets and song writers fortify my heart when the wounds of this world grow too big to bear.
I just read that Joan Baez, at 84, still turns pain into poetry, protests into songs to leave the world braver than she found it.
One of my favorite poets, John Roedel, recently posted this on Facebook:
when the world goes mad become wildly kind to everyone everyone everyone everyone in these breaking news heartbreaking times when nothing feels certain let your raw kindness be a certainty allow your compassion to become a North Star stamped up in the sky for others to follow back home. How beautiful. Thanks, John. The only certainty, the one thing I know to be true for ALL of us is this: There is no right home. There is no left home. There is just home. And home is where we ALL belong.
I remember where I was sitting (in my Seminary efficiency apartment) and what I was drinking, (TAB) and munching on (pretzels) when I first read the infamous, and for me life changing quote, the Ram Dass phrase “We’re all just walking each other home” means that life is a shared spiritual journey, and our ultimate purpose is to support and help each other find connection, inner peace, and a state of spiritual enlightenment or “home”. It emphasizes interconnectedness, compassion, and the idea that by letting go of separateness, we can facilitate each other’s journey toward a deeper understanding of truth and love.
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Shared Journey:
The phrase highlights that life is not an isolated experience but a collective path that all beings are on.
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Interconnectedness:
It underscores the deep, fundamental connection between all souls and the importance of recognizing this unity.
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Mutual Support:
By walking together, we help and guide each other through life’s challenges and experiences.
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“Home” as a Metaphor:
“Home” represents more than a physical place; it symbolizes a destination of inner peace, wholeness, spiritual enlightenment, or ultimate truth.
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Love and Acceptance:
The journey is undertaken with love and acceptance, fostering a sense of community and understanding.
LOVES ANYWAY
BECAUSE I SAID SO
BUT JUST BECAUSE
Because real love loves anyway
