 On
Saturday, August 11, 2007, Ms. Judith Tutt-Starr
shared a Dwelling in the Word moment with the
ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
How good and
pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live
together in unity.
It is like
precious oil poured on the head, running down on
the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down
upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the
dew of Hermon were falling on mount Zion, for
there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life
forever more.
My parents were
divorced when I was 10 years old. My father left
my four sisters and myself. He pretty much
disappeared from my life for the next 11 years.
Not sending birthday cards. Not being present
for recitals. Not sending support to
 my
mother. He disappeared. We learned that three
months after the divorce, he remarried a woman
with four daughters and one son. Divorce and the
nuances are often hard for a child to
understand, but I did understand what it feels
like to be abandoned.
If you fast
forward another 10 years, my sisters and myself
finally decided to confront the demon of
dysfunction in our family. You see, we have
three ELCA pastors and an elder among us, and we
all consider ourselves to be strong persons of
faith. But we had not learned how to forgive.
Arrangements were
made for us all — 26 in total — for my sisters
and their families and the step-sister and
-brother to gather, meet, stay, and talk about
our lives. We were to meet at my father's ranch.
His life has been good to him and he became a
very wealthy man. The weekend came and people
began arriving from their homes. Soon enough,
the conversation began to turn ugly. There was
not enough love in that room that bore in our
hearts for one another. Too many years of
unexpressed hurt hung heavy in the air. And I
remember sitting on the floor just listening and
I picked up the Bible from my dad's coffee table
and it opened to Psalm 133. How good and
pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell
together in unity.
And I began to
say aloud the words. Very soon people they began
to hear and speak the words over and over until
we were all saying the verse together in unison.
That moment was like that precious oil running
down the beard of Aaron. It was as if the Holy
Spirit was moving from person to person. And
then there was quiet. Finally, people began to
speak to one another with words of love in
compassionate ways, to find the understanding
that had been removed from our lives. After a
day or two, we left caring about and for one
another, promising that never again we be
outside of the family circle of love and
understanding.
How good it is
when brothers and sisters live together in unity
for there the Lord bestows a blessing, even life
forever more.
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