Together We Will Be Alright

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolour, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.”
Stanley Horowitz

‘Together we will be alright’

For some reason as I sit here this morning, I am remembering Pappi Ogane who was one of the first assistants in our community. Maybe I am thinking of the early years because of our recent birthday celebration or because these days we find ourselves talking a lot about Marcin and Geoffrey who were once so fully part of us and are now part of the spirit of our community. Whatever the reason, this is one of those very precious moments when I come back to the very essential of what our community is about.
Pappi came to us from a small township outside Johannesburg in South Africa. We were excited and curious about how it would be with Pappi. Our ways were very different. The points from which we viewed the world were very far from one another. His sisters names were ‘Comfort’, ‘Mercy’ and ‘Patience’, and our names weren’t quite so clear in their intention. His skin is black and ours for the most part is white.
The biggest difference, however, was in our understanding of time. For Pappi time was an abundant gift and everything got done in its own good time. Our core Members seemed to have the same general idea!!!
For the rest of us, time seemed to be a scarce commodity. It was something we imagined we could save or waste or even stretch. For some us ‘Time is Money’ was an idea that had some influence. The strangve thing though, with all of our mastery and control, nothing ever seemed to get done on time!!!
Finding our way together meant that we eventually had to begin to explore our differences and look for a middle path. Many conversations later and with the passing of lots of time we slowly began to see one another more clearly and to share life more fully. In and through it all there was a response that Pappi often offered that became one of the by-lines of the community - ‘Don’t worry Maria – Together we will be alright’
Here we are 5 years on. Life has brought many challenges and many blessings along the way and in it all we are still together in life and in death.
We hold together- even though we are so different, even though the eyes through which we look at the world offer us many different points of view. We are together because we choose to be together and because we know for certain that in our world that is constantly dividing against itself TOGEHTER is the only way forward.

Loving God
You call us into being
and give us our mission,
Thank You
for the gift of one another,
Thank You for our journey
together in L’Arche.
Help us to grow
in our response to you,
Listening to your voice within us,
Seeing You around us,
Delighting in our gifts,
Forgiving one another
for our failings,
Welcoming tomorrow
in Faith, Hope and Love.
Amen