Chicago, Chicago, that toddling town...

Yes, I've been in Chicago this week completing the (hopefully) final seminar for completion of my DMin degree. It has been a rich week, with colleagues carefully critiquing each other's projects and preparing for our oral exams in April.

I've been in this degree process since January of 2007. What some folks don't recognize about DMin degrees is that most programs are designed to allow working clergy to share with each other projects that might help other congregations or local communities. The desire, at least in the CTS DMin program, is that clergy will have created resource material that will tweak the interest of clergy and perhaps provide solutions to common challenges in our faith journeys.

What struck me today, however, is that while we had a wide variety of project presentations and critiques this week, there is a common thread that runs through them all; divisions cripple our communities. Whether the project concerns left vs. right brain learning in Bible studies, mind vs. body considerations regarding health care, liberal vs. conservative in our religious and political discourse, etc., the problems of our communities often boil down to our reluctance to engage all of our being, both individually and collectively.

We think we can feed our minds and ignore the signals from our bodies about whether we are completely - wholly - healthy. We believe we can study the Bible and absorb disembodied facts while ignoring the right hemisphere of our brains that would allow us to internalize what we experience when we encounter scripture. We believe we can heal bodies with technology, ignoring any diagnoses that reflect on our spiritual well-being. We believe we can solve problems within our communities by establishing beachheads where we refuse to talk to those on the "other" side of what we believe about a particular issue.

All of these actions separate us, individually and collectively. We cannot be healthy if we continue down these paths of division. We have been reminded, in the texts of many religions, that the way to "salvation" cannot be accomplished unless we are willing to treat others as we wish to be treated. We must recognize the humanity of the "other" if we are to survive well.

This notion of the recognition of our common humanity seems self-evident to me, but the cultural currents seem to be pulling us away from each other. My prayer is that our Creator will grant us the grace to work toward each other, for it is only through relationships of depth, mutuality and vulnerability that we will be able to survive, that is, survive well.