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A Response to the Reception of New Members
February 4, 2007
Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper
The Lost Walking Stick
Ancient Testimony: Genesis 35: 1-15
I lost my walking stick, again, in Washington, D.C. on a way too hot winter day. I stopped and carefully placed it against a tree, took off my coat, and reminded myself to remember to pick up my stick before I took off down the Potomac Tow path. I put my coat around my waist and left my walking stick by the tree. I will probably never see it again.
In a world where 130 people lost their life yesterday in Baghdad and a dozen people lost their apartment in Queens last night to a fire that spread through their whole block, I think the loss of my stick is relatively inconsequentially.
I would be lying, though, if I told you I cared more about the 130 or 12 I don't know than I care about the stick I do know. The woman who helped me raise my kids gave the stick to me. She lived with me for 11 good years and still is one of my closest friends. Her father carved it. People often stop me on trails and say, "Where did you get that stick? It is beautiful." I say I got it from a friend whose father carved it for me. But what made it so beautiful was the way it was a "found" wood, a wood that grew twined by grape vines so it had a perfect spiral on its handle. Once, at a Frisbee game in Miami, a dog chewed on the end of it, deforming it a bit. But people would still stop me and say, "What a beautiful stick."
When I realized the stick was gone, a half-mile down the trail, I ran back as quickly as I could, firmly believing and hoping that my stick would be there. It was gone.
I have been in touch with park officials. I have posted notes on blogs. The stick disappeared January 6th. It is February 4th. The stick is probably gone.
Lots of things disappear, don't they? You have your losses. Joseph surely had his. He moves from the pit to a promise of perpetuity - but I don't think the experience of the pit will ever go away. He will just "lose it" - in that great popular phrase that means, "get over it." I will not tell you today to "lose it" - nor will I suggest that most of the suffering we know compares to that of Baghdad. Instead, I will say this: When we care about one thing, we care about all things. When we let ourselves love something, even a stick, we let ourselves love. That love is the walk, the path, the route to all caring. So I say this: Care for one or two things with everything you have. Let them break your heart.
That way you will learn, as I will, to care for all things. Don't get over it. Get with it and stay with it and love what you love to life and death.
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