"San Damiano Song" – Donovan
If you want your dream to be, build it slow and surely.
Small beginnings greater ends, heartfelt work grows purely.
If you want to live life free, take your time go slowly.
Do few things but do them well; simple joys are holy.
Day by day, stone by stone, build your secret slowly.
Day by day, you'll grow, too; you'll know heaven's glory.
A couple of weeks ago, when my husband was out of town for a few days, I indulged myself in an orgy of old movie watching - something I rarely do. Specifically two movies that I just love – Godspell and Brother Sun, Sister Moon. They are both “feel good,” religiously-themed movies straight out of the hippie days of the early 70's and the heart of the “love is all we need” Jesus-movement. At heart, somewhere down deep, I am an old hippie who still believes that, yes, love really is all we need, and even though I have grown to acknowledge that “love” involves a lot of commitment and plain ol’ hard work, I still love to wallow down into the ambiance of these two movies and a time when we really believed that anything was possible
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I broke tradition today by choosing song lyrics as our reading. They are from Brother Sun, Sister Moon. If you have never seen this movie I recommend you find it and take a look. It’s a Franco Zeffirelli film and the visuals, if nothing else, are absolutely stunning. It’s a visually beautiful movie. It is the story of St. Francis and his metamorphosis from devil-may-care rich boy to ascetic saint, retelling how Francis one day heard God call him to “rebuild my church” and, taking that literally, set out to rebuild the small derelict church of San Damiano – stone by stone -- in the process building a new community, a new order - one person at a time.
That same weekend, Patti brought me a page out of the Ukiah Daily Journal, with a story she thought I would enjoy reading. I glanced at it at the time but never sat down to read it, start to finish. I did, however, put it on my desk right next to my computer and I finally read it through this week and ever since I’ve had the song I started with today running through my head
.
I broke tradition today by choosing song lyrics as our reading. They are from Brother Sun, Sister Moon. If you have never seen this movie I recommend you find it and take a look. It’s a Franco Zeffirelli film and the visuals, if nothing else, are absolutely stunning. It’s a visually beautiful movie. It is the story of St. Francis and his metamorphosis from devil-may-care rich boy to ascetic saint, retelling how Francis one day heard God call him to “rebuild my church” and, taking that literally, set out to rebuild the small derelict church of San Damiano – stone by stone -- in the process building a new community, a new order - one person at a time.
That same weekend, Patti brought me a page out of the Ukiah Daily Journal, with a story she thought I would enjoy reading. I glanced at it at the time but never sat down to read it, start to finish. I did, however, put it on my desk right next to my computer and I finally read it through this week and ever since I’ve had the song I started with today running through my head
Day by day, stone by stone, build your secret slowly.
Day by day, you'll grow, too; you'll know heaven's glory.
The story was a blog post by a church pastor from Florida, whom I had never heard of – by name of Ronnie McBrayer. The piece was titled “Woodpeckers on the Wall,” and began by recalling the building and the demise of the Berlin Wall. This seemingly impregnable wall was build in 1961 at the height of the Cold War, and for the next 28 years separated East and West Germany. In November of 1989 the barriers were opened and people could once again move freely from one side to another. In the weeks that followed, the wall was not only opened, but largely demolished – stone by stone – by ordinary people with hammers and rocks. Some wanted souvenirs but others just wanted the damnable thing gone forever.
Pastor McBrayer’s point in his article was that the German people nicknamed these wall-chippers "Mauer-spechte" -- “woodpeckers on the wall.” They just kept chipping away until the monstrous wall that had caused so much heartache for so many years ceased to exist. McBrayer followed this by reminding us that it wasn't peacocks, the ones who strut and make all the noise, who brought down the wall – it was the woodpeckers – those ones who just kept chipping away, little by little, who finally accomplished that.
The message for those of us who hunger and thirst for justice in this world is – whether we take St. Francis or the “woodpeckers on the wall” as our model – this is how we bring justice and mercy and yes, love, to our world – chip by chip, stone by stone, day by day.
Are any of us alone capable of bringing justice to this world? Are any of us alone capable of feeding all the hungry? No - we are not and we all know that perfectly well – in fact we know it so well that is can discourage us from even trying. It can discourage us from believing we can accomplish anything.
But Francis did not rebuild San Damiano all by himself. He started alone, but others saw him and came to join their efforts to his, and, in time they built something much larger than one small country church. It didn’t happen overnight but they reminded the Church-with-a-capital-C that the poor matter and that we are called to much more than building bigger and bigger monuments to our own glory while telling ourselves it’s all for God’s glory.
The Mauer-spechte did not individually take down the wall -- they did it by many people from both sides chipping away at the one small piece they had chosen – no one person did it all and it didn’t happen overnight – but in time the cursed wall came down.
The church has lost its way again many times since Francis, and economic and political systems still block people from freedom and justice as surely as any German wall – and we are still called to build up love and to tear down injustice – over and over again.
One of our sister churches in the East Bay shared a saying from the Talmud this week that truly spoke to me:
Pastor McBrayer’s point in his article was that the German people nicknamed these wall-chippers "Mauer-spechte" -- “woodpeckers on the wall.” They just kept chipping away until the monstrous wall that had caused so much heartache for so many years ceased to exist. McBrayer followed this by reminding us that it wasn't peacocks, the ones who strut and make all the noise, who brought down the wall – it was the woodpeckers – those ones who just kept chipping away, little by little, who finally accomplished that.
The message for those of us who hunger and thirst for justice in this world is – whether we take St. Francis or the “woodpeckers on the wall” as our model – this is how we bring justice and mercy and yes, love, to our world – chip by chip, stone by stone, day by day.
Are any of us alone capable of bringing justice to this world? Are any of us alone capable of feeding all the hungry? No - we are not and we all know that perfectly well – in fact we know it so well that is can discourage us from even trying. It can discourage us from believing we can accomplish anything.
But Francis did not rebuild San Damiano all by himself. He started alone, but others saw him and came to join their efforts to his, and, in time they built something much larger than one small country church. It didn’t happen overnight but they reminded the Church-with-a-capital-C that the poor matter and that we are called to much more than building bigger and bigger monuments to our own glory while telling ourselves it’s all for God’s glory.
The Mauer-spechte did not individually take down the wall -- they did it by many people from both sides chipping away at the one small piece they had chosen – no one person did it all and it didn’t happen overnight – but in time the cursed wall came down.
The church has lost its way again many times since Francis, and economic and political systems still block people from freedom and justice as surely as any German wall – and we are still called to build up love and to tear down injustice – over and over again.
One of our sister churches in the East Bay shared a saying from the Talmud this week that truly spoke to me:
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
And that reminded me of yet another quote that I read awhile back and have kept taped up at my desk. It seems to fit here, too. It sounds like a fragment of a poem but I can’t find the original source. It is from a woman named Carrie Chapman Catt, who was, apparently, one of the suffragette leaders of the early 20th century and a peace activist throughout her life. This is her take on the things I've been discussing here:
To the wrongs that need resistance,
To the right that needs assistance,
To the future in the distance,
Give yourselves.
We have a choice – we always have a choice. We can give in and do nothing or we can do what we are called to do, when and as we can – whether it’s building up justice or tearing down injustice – little by little, day by day, stone by stone.
Amen.
Amen.
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