Do you remember the first time you saw an image of planet earth as seen from outer space? For me, it was the movie The Right Stuff. As a 9 year old, I watched with amazement as astronaut John Glenn gazed out the window of Friendship 7. He orbited the earth and saw such beauty and majesty. It was what he didn't see that stood out to me. What he didn’t see were well marked national borders. I was shocked to find that countries weren't established from above. I had learned the world with lines. I had learned the world wrong. Maybe you did too.
The 1990 Voyager Space Probe proudly carried the hopes and dreams of further exploration and discovery. Possibly the most important discovery it made was not "out there". It was us. A famous photo showed us what we look like from nearly 4 billion miles away.
There have been key moments of monumental perspective shift. Key discoveries and inventions that have changed the way we view the world. The wheel, the automobile, the earth as a sphere... But the view of earth from Voyager 1 in 1990 created such an impact that it put us humans in our place. Carl Sagan asked for the image to be taken and he wrote this about what he coined the Pale Blue Dot.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.- Carl Sagan. The Pale Blue Dot.
My moment of discovery looking over the shoulder of John Glenn created a disturbing but beautiful shift in perspective. I wondered, What other imaginary lines have I been taught to see? What imaginary boundaries impact how I see the world?
Our new neighbor was moving in just as we were building a fence. I felt I had to apologize for it. It’s nothing personal, I would say. In fact, it’s for your good too. No one wants the unrestrained curiosity of a hyper golden-doodle tearing up their newly laid sod. But in all honesty, we were protecting ourselves from the fishbowl-life of a pastor's family. We were most definitely drawing lines and creating borders.
We are formed by the boundaries, safe-guards, and guide-rails around us. We are influenced by the environments we grew up in and cultural norms of that era. For instance, my Midwestern roots impact my response to stress and conflict. My eyes were oriented to Great Plains horizons that allowed me to see tomorrow’s weather today. I’ve since adjusted to the forested hills of Tennessee, but I still carry an aversion to fences that segment a wide-open landscape. And I still look up for big skies.
Recently I spotted my sister-in-law driving towards me in her blue Volvo. Except it wasn't her. I realized too late and gave a goofy wave to a stranger. Upon reflection, I should have known it wasn't her. You see, although her family lives about 5 miles from mine--on the same side of a lake East of Nashville, she would have had no reason to drive down that road that day. Her family's life is oriented in the opposite direction as my family's day to day life.
There is a line that runs between us. It is a county line that means different schools, different utilities, different political structures, and generally, a different culture. They drive West and we drive East. It's an invisible line of course, one that doesn't show up on most maps. But its impact is real.
I remember when they chose their home. It was beautiful and worth sacrificing for. I was almost as excited as they were when they made the purchase. But I never imagined how the county line would become a line of division. Invisible lines play a large role in our life stories. Can we ignore them or come to terms with them?
Invisible lines inform the lines we draw in the proverbial sand. By our own hand we create right and wrong, you and me, us and them. The COVID pandemic that began in 2020 could have served as a common enemy for diverse groups of people. And for a very limited time it was. But lines that fade in early crisis re-emerge through the variety of ways we handle crisis. Masks were the first major tension point. Then isolation, shut downs, limited face to face interaction, limited commerce. It was stressful. We didn't recognize our families or neighbors anymore. Instead of responding with grace, we collectively dug in...and lines between us became trenches and foxholes. We were fed ammunition from numerous sources and we seemed to become obsessed with our lines in the sand.
Jesus is famous for writing in the sand in a way that brought forgiveness and freedom for a woman caught in adultery. He often found ways to walk in the borderland between groups of people and points of view. Instead of taking sides, he created something new--he pointed to the Kingdom of God and in doing so changed the way we see the world...
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