I recall a piece of paper I held onto for years. This was before memes became popular on the internet, but it had the same feel, only it was in print, instead of on a screen. It was a line drawing of two birds sitting on a tree branch, with snowflakes falling all around. The text said:
"’Tell me the weight of a snowflake,’ a robin asked a dove.
"’Nothing more than nothing,’ was the answer.
"’In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story,’ the robin said.
"’I sat on the branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow, not heavily, not in a raging blizzard, no, just like in a dream, without any violence. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch nothing more than nothing, as you say the branch broke off.’
"Having said that, the robin flew away.
"The dove, since Noah’s time, an authority on the matter, thought about the story for a while, and finally said to herself: ‘Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace and justice to come about in the world.’"
?
You likely have read this same tale. I first read it in 1982, when I was a part of an Iowa Mennonite School (now Hillcrest Academy) music ensemble that sang and spoke about peace as we traveled across several states. It was part of my responsibility to read these lines when we performed.
I remember that, at the time, I felt some tension within myself. What did this mean for me? Might I be that snowflake? I felt the same tension as we sang "One Tin Soldier" by The Original Caste:
"Go ahead and hate your neighbor.
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of heaven.
You can justify it in the end."
This tension was because I knew that justification, even in high school. I already knew that we say and use words to lift up the concept of global peace, while we ignore the needs of those next door.
The tension has never left me. I hope you feel it, too, and it motivates you to action. Might your voice be the one that is lacking in the chorus for justice and peace in our world?
Left, Ana Alicia Hinojosa, senior executive for Ventures and leader of the Christ at the Borders pilgrimages, stands with Michele Bollman of Maplewood Mennonite Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, next to a water station that has been placed by the South Texas Human Rights Center (STHRC). STHRC places and maintains many water stations in the South Texas brushlands and desert to help prevent migrating people from dying from dehydration. The pilgrimage participants accompanied STHRC workers to stock the water stations, while learning about the hardships faced by people who are migrating. Photo courtesy of Maplewood MennoniteChurch
According to Mennonite Mission Network’s
Missio Dei 18, Palmer Becker describes these Anabaptist tenets:
- Jesus is the center of our faith.
- Community is the center of our lives.
- Reconciliation is the center of our work.
Becker adapted these principles from
The Anabaptist Vision, a statement made in 1943 by Harold S. Bender, who was the president of the American Society of Church History. Bender explained that, from his understanding of Scripture and Anabaptist history (bolding added):
- Christianity is discipleship. It is
following Jesus in everyday life. - The
church is a family. Members not only commit themselves to Christ but also, individually and voluntarily, to one another. - Followers of Jesus have an
ethic of love and nonresistance. As transformed people, we seek to be reconcilers who reject involvement in violence and war.
The Ventures division at Mennonite Mission Network collaborates across the agency, with international and domestic partners and the congregations of Mennonite Church USA, to bring opportunities for joining God’s kingdom. We realize it takes every one of us. This includes you and me, even as individuals who feel we can accomplish nothing alone. It takes us living as disciples each day. It requires that we not only embrace the community of faith around us, but we welcome others. We do this within what Bender called the ethic of love. This is the church’s faith
in action.
Let us continue to open the doors of our churches, homes and hearts, as we strive toward peace on earth.
