Reflection
We say we believe that everyone and everything is a product of God’s creative expression. We believe that we are each a unique vehicle for the Divine presence on Earth, and that we are all connected. We state that all living beings are kin through the creative act of the Source of Life. In spite of our verbal commitment to these beliefs our actions often betray us. We may be shocked as we read of acts of violence against those who are “inferior” or “different’. We can be horrified by the oppressive policies of government that attempt to suppress the voting rights of groups of people. We may be upset by political candidates who are overtly racist or sexist. We can’t understand the assault on Earth and its effects on climate. Yet are we complicit in all this? What choices do we make? Whom do we support? How do we act? What shapes our opinions? Any divisive or arrogant actions that may have our implicit support betray us. It seems we see our wisdom as greater than that of the Source from whom all things came and who holds all equally in existence.
Prayer
Create in me a new heart.
Action
Examine how your words, thoughts and actions match. Where do they deviate? What are the reasons? What can you do?
Suggested Reading
Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things God has made.
Romans 1:19-20
At the heart of every being lies creation’s dream of a principle that will one day give organic form to its fragmented treasures. God is unity.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Each of us is a masterpiece of God’s creation.
Pope Francis
God works in and through what God has to work with, changing world views, different cultures, personalities, individual giftedness, institutionalized religion, our developing knowledge about the universe and the planet, and human limitations. We are all connected in God and we give God wonderfully diverse ways of coming to visibility.
Michael Morewood
We are of course a nation of differences. Those differences don’t make us weak. They’re the source of our strength.
Jimmy Carter
Understanding and respect begin when we reach to see beyond our differences — when we are, at last, and through the grace of God, able to see ourselves in “the other” and “the other” in ourselves.
Patricia Farris
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.
Maya Angelou
Fear is our deepest and strongest emotion, and the one which best lends itself to the creation of nature-defying illusions.
H. P. Lovecraft
In a mouse we admire God’s creation and craft work. The same may be said about flies.
Martin Luther
Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.
Jacqueline Woodson
Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow- red, yellow, brown, black and white- and we’re all precious in God’s sight.
Jesse Jackson