I-Thou

(A response to Acts 2: 1-21 and Genesis 11:1-9)

I’ve learned this language, culture, space,
I belong to this people, this land and this race.

Like a tight, knit cozy, for better or for worse
I know who I am, myself and my worth.

It’s easy and it’s simple, in a world full of others
to stay with my crowd, full of like-sisters and brothers.

But if we don’t follow the flow of the wind’s breeze and the mist’s whispers,
we might miss the white snow of a dark prairie night’s winter.

Or the smell of salt water and the rustle of palm trees,
while cockatoos soar and penguins ascend from the sea.

Maybe it’s the colour of change in the morning autumn leaves,
that glow like radiant fire throughout the Rockies.

Or maybe it’s those people, the one’s who don’t look like us,
who live down the street, the ones we don’t discuss.

They may be darker in skin with hijabs or silk-like clothing,
they may be whiter than the sand with wealth, power and self-loathing.

But here is where the secret of the wind lies,
as it flows and descends and enters the whole earth’s skies,

it breathes beloved energy into every curve, hole and being,
illuminating new life and ancient wisdom as new ways of seeing.

So here is the invitation: come see the wind blow now,
awaken to our difference and enter into the I-Thou.