I am old enough to remember segregated restaurants and bathrooms in the South. I was dumbstruck at the time. My mother’s response did not help. Why I could not drink from one fountain and had to use a different bathroom was wicked, even to an 8-year-old. I was overwhelmed by negative and terrifying emotions, dominated by the knowledge that others were being excluded because people in power had a false belief of superiority related to the colour of one’s skin. It was, then and now, wrong in any context.
I rebel against the idea that anything other than our character is a measure of one’s soul. I have been recently reminded through a shared meal with tangible evidence of progress, though we are still a long way from home. The Whispered lesson reminders, silently echoing as the sun rises today, include the following.
Life and relationships are open to all. Regardless of where one stands, there is a common thirst to be heard, seen, and loved. Every individual has within their heart a desire to know s/he belongs. It is in the early embrace that we are introduced to love. It is in the applause we hear as a child that we experience family and belonging. In the highs and lows of life, we are brothers and sisters, part of a Divine family.
In being welcomed with everything that makes us unique, we find community. On different levels, there are choices and nuances which can be seen as a choice. It is in respecting, even celebrating with curiosity, our choices that we discover the person next to us. It is often in the simple things. “For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly.” (Romans 14.2)
As I looked up, a Michelin-star restaurant sign took me to the meal shared inside. Each moment is an invitation to live where all are welcome and celebrated.
