Every now and then I run heart first into the sharp edges of what some would call inclusive language. Personally, I have never been able to make sense of a conversation about inclusion that begins and ends with what and why we ought to exclude, reduce, leave out, shift and reword. For me of these conversations about language ultimately translate from what and why into who is not one thing or another. I figure, if one can get to what’s in and what’s out so easily, then if any of us show up as all of who we are created to be; we can easily be relegated to the whose out portion of the conversation just because of who we are or who we are not. And that will not do for me and for the many among us who need our message hope. I figure, that if I am truly living “my call” that I am focused on ensuring that this message of hope that I carry in my bones can be easily accessed and lived into by as many people as possible. So it is more than what I say and the simple words that I choose on any occasion, it is uplifting it with music, art and dance. It is communicating it sometimes with no words at all. It is bringing it to life in the global language of peace. It is being willing to shout it from the mountain high and the valley low. It is being it by showing up. It is infusing it into our living. It is personifying it to and through the body politic. It is relaying in concert with others. It is building it with the work of our hands and our hearts. It is formulating it with our soul. It is making it available it in every language and means imaginable…
Recently, I was reminded just how finite we really are and how every moment of our lives is a precious gift. Thus, I have decided to move to a way of being present with people that allows me to live an inclusive life that looks for and sees the divinity of all people, to hear the presence of the sacred in their words and to be the reminder for the world that God is all there is… When I feel the brush of the breeze across my face; God is all there is. When I encounter crowded shopping centers; God is all there is. When someone cuts me off in traffic; God is all there is. When I feel overwhelmed by life; God is all there is. When I stand face to face with hatred; send them my love and the knowing that God is all there is! When someone holds the door for me; God is all there is. When hear the laughter of children; God is all there is. In the eyes of the stranger; God is all there is. In the grand scheme of things, it really does not matter to me which name you choose for God. What matters to me is that each person is able to connect to an aspect of God that speaks to the very soul of their being. If does not profit me to uphold a specific image of God and say no to another. What matters to me is that each person can access the image of God in their own reflection.
I have no more time to spend trying to balance the biases of our languages. It is far better use of my heart space to allow many things to be true and truth at the same time by welcoming your language as meaningful as it is to you in the same moment as my language as meaningful to me and so on… In short, I think inclusive really means all and that’s all that all means. So I invite you to just make room for all that you are, all that God is to you and all the same for all of the people you meet and all of the wonderful experiences that await you.
So, today the language of life rings true for me and through me and it is my hope for all of us as citizens, tribes, villages, friends, family and kinfolk of the world that we will find ways that restore honor and value to “the other” among us. Because to each one of us; each one of us is “the other”.
In closing, I forgive myself for not taking this step sooner and for carrying this around in my heart for so long. I set this free from my spirit with this posting.
This is my truth and so it is!
