If you walk by my house, you will, more often than not, see
the Earth Flag flying outside. Why the Earth Flag and not the United States
flag? It certainly is not for reasons unpatriotic. In spite of its flaws, I am
very proud of my country, and I am proud to be a citizen of the United States.
So, why fly the Earth Flag?
In the Hebrew Scriptures the Israelites are reminded by God
that God is not just God alone for them, but is also the God of the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Jebusites and the Canaanites. I remember listening to a Jewish
scripture scholar explaining a passage in the Talmud, whereupon God is seen
crying at the deaths of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. An angel asks God about
why God is weeping for the Egyptians who had been intent on killing the
Israelites. God replies to the angel that the Egyptians are children of God,
too. Jesus said essentially the same thing in the Gospels, in particular, note his
conversation with the Samarian woman at the well in John’s Gospel. As much as
we may want to limit God and hoard God for ourselves, we cannot contain the God
of Creation. As much as we may not want it, we are all children of the one God,
interrelated and interdependent with each other.
Pope Francis 1, in his May 31st address of this
year on the 48th World Communications Day, spoke thusly, “Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller” and
where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbors. Developments
in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and
making us more connected, even as globalization makes us increasingly
interdependent. Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep,
continue to exist within our human family. On the global level we see a
scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of
the poor. Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast
between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store
windows. We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer
unsettle us. Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization
and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic,
political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.”
Pope Francis
continues, “What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord,
to encounter others in the light of the Gospel? In spite of our own limitations
and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? These questions are
summed up in what a scribe a communicator once asked Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’”
Pope Francis states that the question is answered in the parable of the Good
Samaritan. “The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man
he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him.
Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as
someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other … The Levite and the
priest do not regard him as a
neighbor, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance.”
As any honest
historian of American history knows, the United States has had its chapters of
shame in which we have waged war with other nations, and have manipulated and controlled
other nations for our own self-gain and greed. We have also had our chapters of
great honor in which, as a nation, we have sacrificed our wealth and the flesh
and blood of our citizens for others. I would like to believe that we have had
more chapters of honor than of shame.
The Earth Flag is
flown outside my home to celebrated the oneness of humanity, rather than the
differences of humanity that so often lead to division, conflict, war and
pestilence. The Earth Flag is flown in hope that one day as a world, we can
honor our interrelatedness and our interdependence on one another and cease
trying to dominate each other. The Earth Flag is flown in recognizing in each
and every human being the breath of the Holy Spirit that fills not only our
bodies, but animates all life in our world. The Earth Flag is flown in hope of
the day when our environment is not exploited and destroyed for profit, but is
honored and protected by all, including those in industry.
It is in honoring God’s presence in all nations, in all peoples, in
nature, and within ourselves that we will finally become that which God meant
humanity to be at Creation. I pray that one day these words of Isaiah will be
fulfilled. “In days to
come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest
mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it. Many
peoples shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the LORD’s mountain, to the
house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk
in his paths.’ For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD
from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many
peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us
walk in the light of the LORD!” (Is 2: 2-5)
No comments:
Post a Comment