come sit awhile under the vine and the fig tree...

I don’t believe I have ever read the Book of Micah all the way through. In the middle of this short book full of dire predictions and terrible judgements is a verse I never heard before. The prophet has described in lyrical prose the gathering of many nations on the mountain of the Lord. There will be no war and everyone will sit under their vine and fig tree, unafraid. The verse that caught my ear was verse five in chapter four... " For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever". What a lovely image for our world today... for our church... for us as neighbors of those whose God is different from ours.
As a child in a small southern town, a different God could be Presbyterian or Catholic or Jewish or Hardshell Baptist... or the God of Mr. Cargile who sat in the right front pew every Sunday. We knew about the Gods from other countries because missionaries like Miss Pearl Todd came to our church to speak about their lives in China, or Africa, or Palestine. Those Gods were far away... mysterious and intriguing. It was easy to imagine living next door to a Buddhist. That would be so different and offer such possibilities for educational interchange. It was difficult to imagine living next door to the Swilley family... Church of God... unshaven legs for the girls, no make up or jewelry, more children than the law allowed, women who married early and seemed to turn into carbon copies of their mothers. They worshiped the same Christian God I did but I did not recognize their God’s name either.
I have watched the world collapse in upon itself... grow so small that we can see and hear the Gods all around the world as they are presented by their followers. The multiplicity of voices and religious practices now can seem overwhelming and confusing. The danger for me is losing my clear call... my revelation of God in my world here in North Carolina... as I honor and respect others visions of God.
There have been so many ways to seek the Holy in the lives of all the peoples of the world since the beginning of time. It is wonderful to see how many different ways we have tried to address the Mystery. My way is not the only way. My way is right for me for many reasons and I believe the Christian way has many gifts that other ways do not. But I am not arrogant enough to pretend I understand the mind of God. These other creations of paths to God may have come from God just as mine has. They have gifts I do not know. Just as the Christian way has struggled with its imperfections, so have these other paths struggled. We are all imperfect beings using different paths to travel to our homeplace... God.
So today... just for today... I will try to carry the image of all the people walking on the mountain of the Lord God... sitting under vines and fig trees...all kinds of seekers... Muslims, Jews, Hardshell Baptists, United Church of Christ, Buddhists, New Agers, Hindus, agnostics, fundamentalist believers of all kinds... all of us under the sheltering wings of our loving God.
Maybe I will plant a fig tree on the farm...