What Brings Us Together

Not too long ago, our Junior High Sunday school class watched a fascinating episode of "Touched by an Angel." The story featured youth from Northern Ireland who come to America on a mission project to discover what life away from the tensions between Catholic and Protestant is like. The kids in my class were surprised to know that these hostilities existed. They could hardly imagine why they would. Because, happily, they have been reared in an atmosphere that preaches Christian unity and in a place where we look at what brings us together . . . not what sets us apart. This foundation sets the stage for the generation to come.

The year before my birth, my grandfather refused to attend my parents' wedding. A staunch Methodist, he could not bear my mother's recent conversion to Catholicism and stood righteously off to the side - withholding his approval and evidently his love in order to make his point. It broke my mother's heart. Needlessly.

Her conversion had been a real calling, not just a requirement to marry my father - the son of equally staunch Catholics. My heritage and calling has been to that same lively faith, where I am nurtured in the mysteries and sacraments of an ancient church. And yet, Michael and I, along with our four children, have drawn deeply from the community of The Church of the Good Shepherd in which we have been members for more than 10 years. When people ask how or why this happened, I have a number of answers.

We prefer the benefits of a small church. I love the scripture study and the thoughtful sermons. I am attracted to all the mission work our church does. But really, the honest answer, beyond these things is, I truly don't know.

Perhaps this bi/denominational walk is God's way of healing a brokenness found in my particular family. If this is so, then I look to the future with tremendous pride and hope. Because my children and my students understand something my grandparents could not; Jesus Christ is our foundation, our way, our light. It is to that light we must continually turn our face. God will call us to himself perfectly. We need only stop to look and quiet ourselves to listen. And then respond, each in our own way.

These lovely children, yours and mine, are the flame of a future fire. Perhaps, God's intention for them is to bring about a more universal healing where ALL religious hostilities are unknown and unimaginable. May God bless them greatly.

— Marey Oakes

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist