One by One, Two by Two, Four by Four
Delivered to Shower of Stoles, That All May Freely Serve, and More Light Presbyterians, February 23, 2002 in Santa Fe, New Mexico
By LaDonna M. Sanders
Convening Minister,
GRACE HOPE LIGHT of the World Community Church
Isaiah 43:18-21
Do not remember the
former things,
Or consider the things
of old.
I am about to do a new
thing;
Now it springs forth,
Do
you not perceive it?
I will make a way in
the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
The wild animals honor
me,
Even the jackals and the ostriches;
For I give water in
the wilderness,
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to my
chosen people.
The people whom I
formed for myself so that they might
Declare my praise.
THESE are God’s Words.
I watched them coming
One by one, two by two,
And four by four
Until whole communities of them
Whole nations, almost the
Whole Of my creation
Divided itself until it was almost no more.
Yes, I watched them separate and divide
I watched them stand on the side lines
In the presence of genocide
And say nothing.
Yes, I watch them, closed eyes, clothes mouths and hardened hearts.
Beloved, let not your hearts be hardened
Let not your hearts be hardened, one to another.
I watch them, one by one and two by two and four by four.
They put on masks and cover themselves over.
They set up rules and regulations,
Whole regimes whole nations;
They set themselves apart from my statutes
and my truths.
They worship gods of power, often more than me.
They erect dividing lines between them--
Demarcations
on the face of my creation
And Fear is their enforcer;
it holds them in place.
They are afraid to change.
But I did not give them a Spirit of Fear.
Many stay divided, isolated, and discouraged
As if they know nothing else but divisiveness and separateness
But this is not who they are;
This is not who I created them to be.
For I formed them for a purpose
They cannot live apart from this, separate from this--forever.
No… I am calling out to them.
I call out to them--and they Hear me.
One by one, two by two and four by four,
community by community,
I call out to them and they hear me.
I call out to them in whispers and bellows and they Hear me.
Their hearts tug and pull, their tears flow at the separateness.
Their minds can no longer rationalize the inconcruency
of mixed notions of human supremacy
and the truth of who
I created them to be.
Of hatred and apathy
in the face of Me
and of my work in my creation.
Yes, I am calling out to them and they hear me
One by one, two by two and four by four.
I raised up Rosa Parks and Martin King Jr. and a host of mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, partners and friends and
Together and in their own corners they marched, they lifted
Their voices, they bared witness with action
until the walls of Jim Crow Segregation
came tumbling down.
I call out to them and they hear me
One by one, two by two and four by four.
I raised up Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela and
Stephen Biko and Desmond Tutu
I raised up a people who together lifted their voices and said
No in the face of evil, who bared witness with their
Bodies until the rest of the world took notice and
Stood in solidarity with them.
And the walls of legal apartheid in South Africa have come
Tumbling down.
And there is still more work to be done.
I call out to you and you hear me.
One by one, two by two and four by four.
I raised up Janie Spahr, and Martha Juillert and Michael Adee I raised up Deborah Mullen and Ginny Davidson and Eily Marlow.
I raised up Lisa Larges and Don Stroud and Jim Vesper and
You and you and you.
And the walls of heterosexism in my church are tumbling down.
Yes, the barriers to Everyone that I call to the service of
ME and my people
Yes they too are tumbling down. Even right now. Yes.
Even right now.
Do you not perceive it?
You see I am doing a new thing, even right now.
I call out to them, and they hear me. Little by little. One by one, two by two and four by four.
And so it is that you gather here: I have called you here and you hear me…The Shower of Stoles Project, That All May Freely Serve, and More Light Presbyterians. I call you here and YOU HEAR ME.
You see I am doing a new thing.
Like Rosa, Martin, Nelson, Winnie and Stephen, Janie and Ginny
I call you out, each one by name to be leaders and a community committed to the liberation of my people.
All my people.
I have formed and made you for this purpose.
I have called you here together for this purpose.
I am longing for a restoration of my Household,
the Household of God—That My House of Prayer,
The one that I created--My Church—May be a house of prayer for all people. A light for all people.
Guided by my Spirit,
you will speak and challenge; you will listen and hear;
you will be bridges across the chasms of racism/heterosexism/and oppression.
For these are not of Me. And they are not of You either, of who I have created you to be.
They are not the Truth of Who You Are, my beloved,
my creation.
And so it is that you begin this day with yourselves, and with your communities—
One by one, two by two and four by four
and then you will branch out.
You are to be instruments of my restoration--
The restoration of my creation.
You are to be lights for the people
You will hold the light for them—for church leaders, for world leaders, for one another.
When they cannot see the vision, when they cannot feel the Vision
When they have forgotten, you will remind them
who and Whose they are
And Who I have created them to be.
Yes, you are to be lights in the liberation of my people
Into the fullness of who they are. You are instruments in
the restoration of the Household of God.
Beloved, I am doing a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it??
I am making a way
Even in the wilderness.
Even when it looks like my way is not being made and the
World is saying no to my Divine Purpose, My Divine Intentions.
Beloved, I am making a way in the wilderness.
I am making a way in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
In the desert of seeming impossibility
And running up against the brick walls of resistance,
I AM MAKING A WAY!!
One by one, two by two and four by four--
I am springing up well-springs of living water
I am making rivers even in the desert.
All will honor me, even those who seem to not understand
Who seem to be barriers to my purpose
They, too will be enfolded into this vision.
One by one, two by two and four by four--
I am doing a new thing.
Beloved, I am doing a new thing.
Open yourselves to it. I am calling out to you.
Do you hear me?
One by one, two by two and four by four--I am raising you up. And I provide sustenance for this journey so that
Together, you may declare my praise.
This is the Promise of God.
Amen.
Copyright 2002, LaDonna M.
Sanders.