The Musings of Reverend Catherine Harrington
February, 2006

In honor of Black History Month a series of films will be shown each week to expand our understanding and awareness of racism, hatred, and oppression. The first of these films, The Shadow of Hate, is a deeply disturbing and brutally honest portrayal of the devastating power of bigotry and hate. If you are unable to attend the viewing and would like to see the film let me know; I can make it available for individual viewing. I would love for each and every one of you to have an opportunity to see it.

Gandhi said, "Anyone who doesn't think that religion belongs in politics doesn't understand religion." As a religious leader I feel compelled more than ever to answer the call to speak out against injustice and oppression and to remain open to the truth that in order to change the world, I must begin by changing myself. This means acknowledging my own participation in the unjust system and seeking the redemptive and transformative methods that can change both myself and the world around me.

My recent trip to Managua, as well as the three prior trips to Nicaragua, is one of the ways I am seeking to learn to live so that others may have life. "Live simply, so others may simply live." It has also made me acutely aware of the gift I have been given by being invited into the lives and homes of the people of the barrios and villages of Nicaragua. I am grateful to this congregation for supporting me in my yearly pilgrimage to Nicaragua to live and learn with the poor. With each year we deepen our friendships and learn more and more about each other and about the systemic structures of injustice and oppression that connect us.

I come home humbled by the experience for it was they who taught me. With an uncommon generosity of spirit, they taught me not just how to wash my clothes by hand, or make gallo pinto or collect the water for the next day because the faucets only run for a couple of hours in the late evening or early morning hours, or to play simple games with total abandon, but they also taught me that beneath the surface of a life of poverty and struggle for survival, lies a wondrous seed that when cultivated by the sweat of determination and the heat of dedication matures into the beauty of a fully ripened soul. A soul that glistens with the essence of dignity and depth that can only be born of the strength that comes from the will to live and survive in the worst of circumstances.

There is a saying, "The way down and the way up are the same." The journey we are on as interconnected beings involves recognizing this simple truth and, even more, it requires a willingness to travel both paths: the way down and the way up. It makes all the difference.

In faith, Cathy