TITLE: A United Effort By Bill Schwan 07/26/09 |
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Constance stepped out of her shoes midway between the front door and the kitchen. Her schoolbooks landed unceremoniously on her dad’s chair and she headed toward the fridge in search of comfort food. She was in the carbohydrate phase of her monthly cycle and made quick work of a slice of the chocolate layer cake Pastor Douglas’ wife had dropped off the night before.
She put the plate and glass in the dishwasher, then filled a second glass with ginger ale. After a day of chemo, this was about the only thing her mom could stomach.
With scheduler in hand, she quietly made her way down the hall to her parent’s room. The door was ajar enough for her to see that her mom was sitting up in bed reading, so she knocked once and stepped into the room.
“Hi, hon,” Maddie said and set the book down on the bed.
“Hi. How are you doing?”
“I’m really tired but it’s not the kind of tired that will allow you to sleep comfortably. It’s a tiredness that comes from a chemical assault on your body that exhausts you without making you sleepy. At least that’s what it does to me.”
“Can you deal with a glass of ginger ale?”
“Yes, thanks,” Maddie said and took a generous sip. “So what’s up in school?”
Constance opened her scheduler as per the after school ritual and went over her most recent assignments. For once, she looked forward to their discussion because the assignment in English had her concerned.
“We got this odd assignment from Mrs. Garthing. We’re supposed to write a paper about the unity of humanity, with an emphasis on how to encourage unity among different people groups.”
“Wasn’t the last paper in that class on The Canterbury Tales?”
“Yes it was.”
“Isn’t that an atypical departure?”
“I think the teacher from the Crossroads class has been giving Mrs. Garthing suggestions.”
“What’s the Crossroads class?”
“It’s a class that looks at multicultural things, diversity and stuff like that,” Constance said with an indifferent shrug.
“Oh,” Maddie said, understanding.
“She told us that we could discuss the topic from the point of view of any or all faiths, but I thought they couldn’t discuss faith related topics in school.”
“Well, all codes of conduct have their base in some religious authority. Maybe they see this as an important enough topic to expand the acceptable areas of inquiry for a moment.”
“I haven’t really looked into this topic yet. I mean we only got the assignment today. But unity for all humanity seems like too big a job for high school seniors to handle well.”
“I’m sure you’re expected to research the topic thoroughly. There was a 5K race last weekend that was sponsored by the local Baha’i group. I think it was called the Race for Unity.”
“I remember those guys. They had a table at school on career day this year. I took some of their literature and it seemed too vague for my likings. Lots of pronouncements about what must happen in order to achieve the unity of humanity but no plan for making it happen.”
“But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reference their ideas.”
“So how would you go about bringing unity to humanity?”
“Pretty tall order. If there is to be a faith-related component to the discussion, I think you know where I’d fall on that scale.”
“Yes, you’d approach it from Jesus being the source for unity among people groups.”
“Paul did cut through all the non-essentials in his letter to the Galatians. ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’”
“Sounds really good on paper, but how does it work out in the real world?”
Maddie thought about it for a moment and then remembered the picture on the mantle of Constance in a hardhat and tool belt. “Do you remember that service project you got involved in last summer to pad your college applications this year?”
“Hey, I really wanted to do that Habitat for Humanity project. There’s nothing wrong with putting it on a college application, is there?”
“No there isn’t. I’m just trying to demonstrate that the chemo hasn’t affected my sense of humor. When you were going through the registration process, we were sent a lot of information about Habitat. You know it’s a Christian based operation, don’t you?”
“Of course. That became plain when the workday began with prayer. The supervisor went on to be very up front about it by stating that we must reflect Christ's love in our own lives by loving and caring for one another. Our love must not be words only. It must be true love, which shows itself in action.”
“And how did that event foster unity among people?”
“Let’s see… We were working together for a common goal. There were all kinds of volunteers. I did the stud layout for the interior walls, a bank executive cut the jack studs and headers for around the doors, a man from India who manages a Circle K store put the studs in place and a plumber from Philadelphia nailed it all together. Four very different people came together and assembled the shell of a house for a refugee family from Iraq.”
“And how might that have been an exercise in unity?”
“Well, we started the day as Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and a couple of atheists. As we worked together, we all became people to each other. We came to appreciate each other for what we could do in this common cause. When you work with people, you’re too busy to concentrate on the differences, and if you do, the work doesn’t get done.”
“Just working together made all the theological differences evaporate?”
“I think it did a lot toward easing tensions. But pastor Douglas worked in some nice touches throughout the day. He scheduled breaks for everyone around the Muslim prayer times and arranged kosher and halal meals through a couple of catering companies. Loved those blintzes.”
“How did you manage to get along with so many people from so many different groups?”
“Well, they made it clear from the beginning that Habitat was a Christian organization and not an interfaith organization, and there was no apologizing for the fact. Everyone who chose to be involved was aware and knew that it was standard Habitat protocol for a Bible to be presented to the new homeowners, so they were free not to participate if they wanted or felt offended. But pastor Douglas explained that to deny our differences by not mentioning Jesus when we prayed was just plain phony and we would not do it. We were proclaiming Christ by both word and deed and we did so. If respect is going to form and relationships are to grow, we can’t build them by being dishonest about the most fundamental part of ourselves.”
“Do you think the people of other faiths appreciated that?”
“I think they would have thought less of us if we had tried to change who we are to make them feel comfortable. It would have been like we didn’t trust them with knowing who we really are and they may have even found it insulting.”
“And when did you know that the exercise had been a success?”
“Shortly after the presentation ceremony at the end of the job. Pastor Douglas gave the family a Bible and someone from a local mosque gave them a Koran. Then things started to wind down. After our supervisor thanked us all for our participation, people started picking up coats and heading for cars. But before the party completely broke up, the whole crew came together and thanked each other for the chance to work with them. Total strangers with nothing in common had become friends over the course of two days.”
“You know what I think?”
“What, Mom?”
“I think you just wrote your paper.”
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