|
|
|
|
Bridge Builders & Peace Makers (Pastor Tom) Life has changed in countless ways since my boyhood days. The manner of road and bridge construction is but one. When I was a boy, the road was built before the bridge. When a road came to a river or a gorge and it was necessary to build a span across, builders went to work. Now when we drive through the country, we see big new bridges sitting out on the flats or crossing rivers with no roads at either end. They are the result of a master plan that calls for bridges first, and roads later. Once the bridges are built, we are committee to building a road. Today, deep crevasses separate nations. These must be bridged before roads can follow. Many Presidents have worked to build bridges of understanding and cooperation for the mutual concern of the United States and other nations. It is good, right, and necessary that we remain involved beyond our own national borders. Despite many positive responses to Dr. King’s call for justice, injustice and racial discrimination still persist. Millions of people are victims of discriminatory practices and policies, being denied their human rights because of their ethnic and social origin. Prejudice builds walls of separation that are contrary to God’s intent. We were created for community, and our lives have meaning as we relate to one another. Anyone who breaks down walls of prejudice and alienation and builds bridges to unify is a great benefactor. I am reminded of the words of a humble poem, memorized and recited by many in days gone by, that deserves to be resurrected, not for the elegance of its rhyme but for the counsel it conveys: An old man, going a lone highway, Came at evening, cold and gray, To a chasm, vast and deep and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim, The sullen stream had no fears for him, But he turned when safe on the other side And built a bridge to span the tide. “Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near, “You’re wasting your strength with building here; Your journey will end with the ending day; You never again must pass this way; You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide; Why build you the bridge at eventide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head: “Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said, “There followeth after me today A youth whose feet must pass this way. This chasm that has been naught to me To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.” Will Allen Dromgoole “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
|
