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faith, history chooses you, John Lewis, Meg Wheatley, Pema Chodron, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Sometimes in the very early morning, when there is no light yet outside and I have either no thoughts or too many to know what to say, I come across the briefest of familiar statements that causes everything to coalesce. As I opened to the Book of Job today for the first lectionary reading, I had an image of Rep. John Lewis walking over the Edmund Pettus Bridge toward certain danger on “Bloody Sunday.” (I was remembering the documentary movie from last night about John Lewis, about race in America, about voting and “Good Trouble.”) I had just read a quote by Pema Chodron that said, “How did I get so lucky to have my heart awakened to others and their suffering?” in a short reflection entitled “History Chooses You.” (Meg Wheatley, Perseverance, p.19) In my mind’s eye, I could see 15-year-old John Lewis preaching to the chickens he was feeding as part of his morning chores…You see how a morning like this can speed up…
Slowly the message was taking shape. The faith of Job that he could not lay aside, no matter the tribulation that befell him, the courage of John Lewis and all the great people who “could not not do” the actions that changed the laws, and are still overcoming racial injustice in our country, were sustained by the inner light that told them, “History chooses you.” Faith in God, the solidarity of like-minded companions, the conviction of the need for change become so strong that the call cannot be ignored. God is always there, “making a way where there is no way.”
Is it our moment now to stand up and do what is necessary, trusting in ourselves and in the God who loves and leads us through it all? We may not be called to great things but in the spirit of Mother Theresa of Calcutta we ought to be at least equal to the task of doing “small things with great love.” for the life of the world. Are you ready to see, feel, know that light in you?
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 