Difference is holy.
This photo shows campers and staff from our Vacation Garden School yesterday doing something counter-cultural. They are holding hands and listening to one another. They are Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, African-American, white, Pakistani, Chinese, Armenian. They bring their variety together with gentle touch and open hearts to make a sacred place.
They are giving thanks for one another. Everyone says something different, each in his or her own voice. We are stronger for our diversity.
It pains my heart that this photo was taken on the same day that a white supremacist rally was gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia. It pains my heart that these children, and the children of Charlottesville, and children everywhere are growing up at a time when our nation’s leader can’t do better than call for the end of “violence on many sides” in the face of horrific threat to life and liberty for citizens of color, and cars crashing into silent, non-violent groups.
The children at our VGS learned about the gift of diversity in crops, in gardens, in fish populations, and in humanity. I pray fervently for a world that can nurture the sacred and unique beauty in each one of them. I rededicate myself to bringing that about.
Living Water(town) 