Seeing with New Eyes

Message for worship on the 1st day of the Sixth Month

Speaker: Jackie Speicher

Matthew 5:43-47, 48b

Jesus’ message to love your enemies was delivered in Israel at a time when it was occupied by a Roman government that no doubt gave them many occasions to feel hatred for their enemy. Jesus’ admonition to love their enemies and to do good to those who persecuted them must have seemed like an impossible and outrageous challenge.

Sadly, today we find ourselves inundated with highly alarming and inflammatory messages that encourage us to despise or even hate those who see things differently than we do—to see them as enemies. Bur the Poet Amanda Gorman writes, “Our only enemy is that which would make us enemies to each other.”

Father Gregory Boyle agrees. He says we don’t make progress when we demonize. Demonizing keeps us from solutions. Plus, it’s always the opposite of how God sees. He adds that “Othering” is the opposite of who God is. It says that there are some folks who don’t belong to us, or they will belong only if they change their behavior. He has worked for over 40 years with members of feuding gangs in Los Angeles where gang-related deaths have been huge. His Homeboy Industries program has been recognized as a model of success in helping gang members heal and turn their lives totally around, moving from hatred, violence and fear to the ability to experience love for self and others. The loneliness that prompted them to seek community in a gang is replaced by a deep sense of loving inclusion such as they have never known before.

He recently published a book Cherished Belonging written just for these turbulent times we are currently experiencing in the US. He says it is not so much about “loving your enemies” but wearing a lens that helps you decide not to have any enemies. He declares we are all called to see with new eyes, to recognize there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’--we are all family. We are called to see as God sees and to love as God loves.

Boyle says, “At Homeboy we want to commit to creating a culture and community of cherished belonging where every person feels themselves seen, heard, understood, deeply loved, and prized as a valued member of the family. One Homie (which is what persons in the program are called) described the experience there by saying, “We have always been watched but never before truly seen.” Another said when she walked into the reception area at Homeboy she could immediately smell the love and knew she was in a safe place—a place where she wanted to stay.

Fr. Boyle asks “How would our society be different if the whole world operated out of the principles of Homeboy Industries? If we created radical societies of inclusion where everyone there could experience cherished belonging--where they could feel truly seen, heard, understood, and prized as members of the loving community? Could this be a way to turn perceived enemies into beloved community and, if so, how might our faith communities facilitate that? It might begin by a simple resolution to start looking at our surroundings with new eyes. In our busy, demanding world where we are so plugged in to all our technology it is easy to develop tunnel vision and only keep our eyes on our next goal, not seeing or relating to those around us. Cell phones, ear buds and headphones, drive-up windows, and many other aspects of daily life make it easy to ignore others around us. He says the key is to pay attention, be curious, ask questions, listen thoroughly, and express appreciation for the journey of the person before us.

The recently deceased Pope Francis called Christians to move “toward an ever wider WE.” Father Boyle expands on today’s scripture by saying: “If we only join those who have the identical experience we do, it creates a tribe of the like-minded and permits disqualification from the “wider we,” the village of our shared humanity.” But he suggests a God-given curiosity can conquer our fears of reaching out. This welcoming spirit dispels fear. Then we are able to love our neighbor, not just as we love ourselves (for we often don’t actually do this so very well), but perhaps as we might love our child, or our niece or our nephew.

Inspired by this wisdom I have begun to try to always thank clerks and waiters and other service persons for being there to assist me and to ask how they are doing. I often learn the struggles they are having in their lives right now. They often seem grateful to have been seen and heard, to have just a brief moment to share their pain or their joy.

I was deeply touched by Eric Dimick-Eastman’s story a couple of weeks ago about a homeless man he met in the alley outside his business, sheltering by their transformer. When Eric was later in Elstro Plaza the man recognized him and pulled Eric over to meet his friends saying, “See this is the man I told you about who shook hand with me!”

These are only tiny attempts to try to provide an antidote to a de-personalized world where many feel invisible and unvalued, but hopefully they help provide some lightness in the other’s day. I am praying that our faith communities can ponder it together and find better ways to help us to get to know each other and to create more inclusive community.

Our Quaker tradition contains wisdom for this journey. No doubt many of us are very familiar with the admonition of George Fox to “Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone; so in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.” William Penn, founder of Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love,” once said, “Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it."

Christians around the world today are celebrating Pentecost-– a day nearly 2000 years ago when fearful, cowering disciples of Jesus were worshiping together, keeping a low profile in order to avoid the attention that might cause them to be arrested, imprisoned or even killed. Suddenly they all found themselves filled with the Holy Spirit and they boldly began preaching the Good News of Jesus’ message and ministry to Jews gathered in Jerusalem from all over their known world. Their transformation started the movement that eventually spread around the globe.

Quakers from their very beginning have gathered together to sit in silent, waiting worship, to listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for their individual lives and those of their faith communities. Today as we go into the silence we might want to acknowledge our awareness that we are participating in a spiritual practice that connects us to fellow Christians all around the globe. And we might listen for the divine guidance that can help us all find solutions to heal our hurting world.

Closing Prayer

(from the World Christian Contemplative Meditation organization)

May this meeting be a true spiritual home for the seeker, a friend for the lonely, a guide for the confused. May those who pray here be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to serve all who come and to receive them as Christ. In the silence of this room may all the suffering, violence and confusion of the world encounter the power that will console, renew and uplift the human spirit. May this silence be a power to open the hearts of all to the vision of God and so to each other, in love and peace, justice and human dignity. May the beauty of the Divine Life fill this gathering and the hearts of all who pray here with joyful hope. May all who come here weighed down by the problems of humanity leave giving thanks for the wonder of human life. We make this prayer in the Spirit of our Friend, Jesus. May the Divine assistance remain always with us. And with our absent brothers and sisters. Amen.