We have been discussing how God speaks to His creation through many different avenues other than The Word. Last week we looked at literature and explored, City Lights Bookstore in North Beach. It was very interesting and revealing. As we look forward to Sunday another area for discussion is relationships, very different than literature, movies and other media, but for me very enlightening.
I was in high school when I came to the realization that I wanted to follow Jesus. One of the first areas of growth for me was in the area of relationships. My English teacher told us to read a poem and write an essay on it. The Poem: "No Man is an Island," by John Donne influenced Hemmingway's: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Poe's "The Bells", as well as Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock." Here it is:
No Man is an Island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I can remember writing the essay and my newfound passion for God being the main thought, that I was created to be in fellowship with God my creator. This is still what I believe, but what is also an important part of my understanding of the universe is that we were also created to be in fellowship with one another. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment was/is to love God and love thy neighbor. Many argue (and I agree) that these two commands are really one command, with two aspects or three for that matter: love God, self, neighbor. By this commandment, Jesus clarifies that we are to be in relationship with one another.
Yet, the reality is that we are not very good at loving one another. We say that it is a priority but when it comes down to it, we are much better at fighting each other than loving each other. But what Donne is communicating in this amazing poem, and St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 2, and Jesus taught in John's Gospel chapter 15 is that we are designed to love one another and can't survive in this world alone.
This is most evident when we are not surrounded by distractions and parasites that keep us from what is most important. When we no longer have material things that we live to buy or maintain, then we realize what is most important is our connection to one another. Luke and Courtney Burton see this everyday in their ministry to street and traveling kids in the Haight. As part of Inner-Changes Outer Circle, they interact with young people who have no material possessions, and because of this, they order their lives around relationships that they make on the street.
Some of us will be going with Luke and Courtney Saturday to witness this firsthand. The rest of us can spend some time asking the question: Do I need others? Can others count on me? Am I a good friend? Do I have any friends? These are important questions because if we are not in the right relationship with others, then we are not in the right relationship with God. 1 John 2:9-10.
Jesus gave us a hint as to one of the most effective tools that we have to make witness to the world:
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35 NIV
In Love
Edwin
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