Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
"Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you."
Small town legend has it that two men met under the same golden Sun, walking on the same Earth accompanied by the same silver moon. The vast prairie was filled with talking prairie flowers and the ocean of the green grass was like a freshly billowing green sea with meek and humble curves in the breathing and fondling hands of the late spring breezes.
The two men were brothers. It did not matter to them. They could not stand each other, not like Cain and Abel rather like Jacob and Esau.
They told each other that they can not stand each other, they can not sit together, they can not camp or settle together, they can not farm together, they can not cattle breed together, they can not buffalo hunt together, they can not celebrate festivals together, they can not pray together, they can not lie in the same cemetery together, they can not attend the same school and neither their children. What should they do?
We know this what-should -we -do -question already. On the coast of the Jordan river John the Baptist was asked by groups of a big crowd, that we are soldiers trained to kill, we are tax collectors trained to extort, we are urban people tempted wildly, we are farmers tried by envy, how can we improve? How can we change our lives? And John answered them that you shall repent and turn to God.
However in the case of the two brothers on the prairie they did not have John the Baptist to guide them, nor Jesus was there offering to follow him. Thus the two brothers agreed in the only one thing they were able to agree with that the younger brother will go to the west, the elder brother will go to the East in order not to meet ever again.
Their two wagons left each other in two opposite directions.
They were outward bound and the distance kept growing between them.
This case definitely has not much resemblance with the last stage of the building of the railroad in the US, when the Transcontinental Railroad was born. In that monumental project, two railroads, the Central Pacific starting in San Francisco and a new railroad, the Union Pacific, starting in Omaha, Nebraska, built the last piece of the transcontinental rail-line by common effort. Everyday the builders got closer and closer to each other, and finally the two railroads met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. The two paths met in the middle of the country. The motives were mostly economical, their methods were quite brutal, as many lost their lives during the progress. Nonetheless the companies succeeded because of their cooperation as they worked for the same goal, to bind together the East Coast and the West Coast by a railway as a tool of trade, industry and the final conquering of the land.
However the two men on board of the two wagons in the prairie land instead of cooperation, parted ways, not even looking back. No bargain, no negotiations.
It was a sad moment in Heaven, but the Sun did not stop shining, the Earth did not stop spinning, the Moon did not stop orbiting, the rain did not stop fertilizing the ground, the meadow did not stop blossoming, the buffalo herd did not stop roaming.
The two wagons disappeared from each other's horizons, planning that their will never see each other again. However God did not stop executing his own plans, and they were not exactly parallel with the plans of the brothers. As it is written in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 55:8-11
" For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
God was right. In the age of the horse wagons though it was known, still it was hardly imaginable that the Earth is really spherical.
Thus the distance between the two wagons increased by every moment regarding home, their starting point. However, using ferries and ocean-liners, the not expected occurred, that they met at the other end of the world. It was no only that the distance grew between them by every step their horse took, but also in the same time the distance between them also decreased by every step taken concerning the spherical shape of the Earth and closing to the other end of the world.
They became almost mad that after that much effort they put into the never meeting process, yet they met against their will and plans. Thus, filled with annoyance and anger they just proceeded on their way further, with the adamant resolution that it was the last time they saw each other.
However, using ferries and ocean-liners again, the not expected occurred again, they finally met at home in the prairies. It was exactly a year later.
They were under the same golden Sun, meeting on the same Earth accompanied by the same silver moon. The vast prairie was filled with talking prairie flowers and the ocean of the green grass was like a fresh billowing green sea with meek and humble curves in the breathing and fondling hands of the late spring breezes.
They were so tired of their journey that they got asleep promptly and both of the brothers had the same dream.
There was no John The Baptist around to tell them what to do, there was no Jesus, who could haven been imitated and followed, but the very angel of God himself descended on the prairie in a cloudy shadow or in a burning fire as an option. And angel said it as if in a dream:
You are brothers. You are family. You are the children of God. You shall stop roaming all around the world, you must settle down, and call home a home. You both have to learn to love your brother who is your neighbor, or at least who will be your neighbor.
AND THEN you can sit together around the table, around the camp fire, and in the council of the elders. You can settle together, you can farm together, you can help out each other, you can celebrate the festivals together, you can pray together, you can lie in the same cemetery together, you can attend the same school and also your children. You can listen to the same tradition together, you can give heart to the teachings of the sacred elders.
When they woke up, they understood that life is more than the I person.
The life is not I, but us and the one who gave life to us.
Two other people had parallel paths, having an agreement, that they respect each other, they monitor each other, but they keep the distance from each other, they did not mingle together, they do not mind each other’s business until it is not harmful, both keeping their own laws and regulations, their own habits and traditions.
According to the Eucledian geometry which is described in his book called “The Elements” , two parallel lines will never cross each others line. And his opinion had been prevailing for two-thousand-three-hundred years.
The Eucledian definition 23 says that ”Parallel straight lines are straight lines which, being in the same plane and being produced indefinitely in both directions, do not meet one another in either direction.” Also the so called absolute geometry states that it is also provable that two lines perpendicular to the same line cannot intersect , which makes the two lines parallel by definition of parallel lines.
Oversimplified to say, but it is simple to imagine that the Eucledian geometry describe the space structure assumed as cubic or rectangular shaped, having a very orderly look. It was also the worldview of the Newtonian physics, as well.
However geometry does not deal with the most profound and also one of the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe, and it is gravity. In the nuclear age we learned it from Albert Einstein, that the space itself is curved under the effect of gravity. New geometries were born, called the hyperbolical and the elliptical geometries to describe the properties of the curved space. These are the non-Euclidian geometries or we can say the new views of the world, substituting the ancient approach.
The ancient view says in the Definition 23 of Euclid that “parallel straight lines are straight lines which, being in the same plane and being produced indefinitely in both directions, do not meet one another in either direction.”
It is true, but only for short distances and in a special environment.
In the curved space, which is actually the real life, and not a theory, the parallel lines meet each other, and they cross each other’s path.
In hyperbolic geometry, the parallel lines "curve away" from each other, increasing in distance as one moves further from the points of intersection with the common perpendicular; these lines are often called ultra-parallels.
In elliptic geometry, the lines "curve toward" each other and intersect.
We humans often think that we can plan and we can execute and follow up our plans. However the universe has its own structure. The universe will not adapt nor yield, we have to adapt and learn the physical and other laws given by the Creator, in order to do well.
We can plan that we will keep our distance, not mingling ever together, following only our distinct path, walking parallel but never together. The universe says that it is impossible.
The parallels sooner or later intersect, mostly because the gravity of the history moves the paths to intersect, curving the social space around us.
The natural and creation order obviously rendered so that every family must have their own home, every clan must have their own frame, every tribe must have their own tribal land and infrastructure, every nation must have their own homeland and destiny, and all the nations of the Earth must comprise an extended family.
We are all connected, interconnected, entangled and intertwined. Eventually we are all related. Life is a journey one by one. Life is also a journey together. We must fare well together. United we stand. May the Almighty heal and unite the nations. We pray in the name of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
Amen
