Kindergarten basics

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum was a best-selling book published in 1979. Fulghum’s rules: share, play fair, don’t hit, put things back, clean up, don’t take others’ things, and say you’re sorry.

In kindergarten I learned to spell my name “Mot.” Later I learned I was dyslexic. The scissors with writing on them worked the best. Later I learned I was left-handed, and the writing was “Left.” I learned when to be quiet, nap time, and when to talk and how to get along.

Children should learn the sandbox rules of playing well with others: sharing, cooperating, respecting other’s space, not hurting others, lest they turn into adults who knock down sandcastles or threaten to “take their ball and go home.”

Remembering Basics

In October I attended the meeting of Christian Churches Together on behalf of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). There are rumblings of division within the CRC church. I spoke with denominational leaders about divisions within their communities, the Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed, Orthodox and Episcopal. The church can see itself as divided by theology, politics, economics, race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, education and tradition. We put truth and social identity over love and repairing relationships.

How do we learn to live together with differences? At the ecumenical meeting I experienced “receptive ecumenism.” This doesn’t mean an organizational merger or even theological agreement. The goal is to be together to listen, learn, respect, say “sorry” and find ways to cooperate – kindergarten basics.

Christian Churches together

At the meeting we talked about grace-filled communication – being grateful for others, listening for God’s Spirit, looking for points of convergence, caring and sharing. Importantly, we worshiped together. We worshiped in Savannah, Georgia at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist; at Christ Church Episcopal, the oldest church in Georgia, where John Wesley was pastor in 1736-1737, at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church; with Chief Se’khu Hadjo Gentle of the Yamassee Tribe; at the First African Baptist Church, the oldest continuously worshiping Black church in Georgia.

The culmination was walking the Baptismal Trail in Riceboro, Georgia. We walked, singing spirituals, from the church to the river where for centuries believers were baptized. There we heard the stories of the church members, their pains and sorrows, joys and faith. Despite our very different stories, we were united in Christ.

Kindergarten basics: learning to listen to the stories of others and offering our own “show and tell.”