Red Thread

Millionaire Gene Lang gave college educations to a class of kids from Harlem, creating the “I Have a Dream” program that has supported many young people of Harlem. He was a friend of my father. When I called him to tell him that my father was dying, Mr. Lang wrote a beautiful letter to him. Here is part of that letter:

Dear Dick,

…It has been about 25 years since our lives were first touched by your caring consideration and kindness. How vividly we have recalled our son David’s nearly fatal accident in Bloomsburg when you befriended us at a time of deep anxiety, giving us comfort and making the Magee Hotel our home away from home. Regrettably, there have been few opportunities to get together over the years. Nevertheless, like the finest champagne, warm thoughts of you have repeatedly bubbled up in our memory, especially when we see David, now a robust active businessman happily married with two lovely children.

When I was a kid, I used to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art on occasional Saturday morning to earn a star that the teacher would post alongside my name on the blackboard. On one occasion, I was standing in the museum’s lobby, looking at a magnificent tapestry hanging on the wall. An elderly lady, perhaps reacting to a kid who would spend a bright Saturday morning in the museum, came over and asked whether I liked the tapestry. I wasn’t sure, but I said that I did. She then asked me which color woven into the tapestry was most striking to me. I answered, “red.” She nodded, and said, “Now look at the tapestry carefully and you’ll see that there is really very little red.” I looked and readily recognized that other colors took up much more extensive areas. In fact, the weavers had been quite stingy in their use of red, working in small doses in various parts of the tapestry. “You see,” the lady said, “that’s really the work of an artist. See how little color he used to create so important an effect.”

Dick, as we examine the tapestry of our lives, Terry and I see you woven in, limited in proportions but with a prominent glowing impact. I am sure that many people who have come into your life would, with their personal parables, bear similar testimony to the delight and meaningfulness of knowing you…”

I hope someone feels that way about you and me some day.

Earth Day

When asked to explain my faith, I speak of two beliefs that are central to me. First, that Jesus would let nothing separate us from God, by dying on the cross, descending into Hell and overcoming death in the resurrection. Second, I believe that resurrection is God’s signature in the world. As Christians we are blessed to know Christ and to understand resurrection in Him. But God writes resurrection throughout the universe. In every aspect of nature there is resurrection. The cycle is seen in the death and resurrection of each plant and animal.

Today is Earth Day. Understanding that resurrection is always God’s plan means that when we care for creation we are partnering with God. Resurrection promises hope, instigates growth, and demonstrates that we are all connected.

Rabbi Herbert Bronstein tells this story: Two people were in a boat. A person at one end of the boat began to drill a hole in the bottom of the boat. The other person said, “What are you doing drilling a hole in the boat?” And the one drilling the hole said, “Why should you care? It’s not your end of the boat!”

Another name for Earth Day is Resurrection Day. I’m thinking about how we might participate in Resurrection this Earth Day. Got any ideas?

Beginning a Conversation