Individual gifts and talents benefit the community
There is more to each person than what is in front of our eyes; everyone is complex with many layers and stories.
An example of that is the tale of the seven blind mice which is based on an Indian fable, this story is about seven blind mice who try to figure out what is standing by a pond.
One day, seven blind mice were surprised to find a strange something at their pond. “What is it?” they cried — and all ran home.
On Monday, red mouse went first to find out. “It’s a pillar,” he said. No one believed him.
On Tuesday green mouse set out. He was the second one to go. “It is a snake,” he said. “No,” said yellow mouse on Wednesday. “It is a spear.” He was the third one on turn.
The fourth was purple mouse. He went on Thursday. “It is a great cliff,” he said.
Orange mouse went on Friday. He was the fifth to go. “It is a fan!”, he cried, “I felt it move!”
The sixth to go was blue mouse. He went on Saturday and said: “It is nothing than a rope.” But the others didn’t agree. They began to argue. “A cliff,” “a snake,” “a rope,” “a fan,” ‘a spear,” “a pillar.”
Until on Sunday White Mouse, the seventh mouse went to the pond. When she came upon the Something she ran up one side and she ran down the other. She ran across the top and from one end to the other.
“Ah,” said the White Mouse; “Now I see. The Something is…
Sturdy as a pillar
Supple as a snake,
Wide as a cliff
Sharp as a spear
Breezy as a fan
Stringy as a rope —
But altogether the Something is an elephant!”
And when the other mice ran up the one side and down the other, across the Something from end to end, they agreed. Now they saw too.
The Mouse Moral: Knowing in part may make a nice tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole.
Seeing the whole, seeing every person for who they really are cannot be learned from any text book, cannot be ‘googled’ or learned from social media site or any website – it needs the face-to-face conversation, the requirement to meet the other one in person; it requires curiosity to want to learn who the other person really is, requires openness to learn, requires the need to listen, to observe, to see and to go beyond the known and familiar. The need to understand takes you on a big daily adventure to gain a deep appreciation of the community, that God has granted to you and me – but it requires foremost the readiness to listen, to see and explore. So that we can celebrate the story of which we are an important part of.
Our community is a gift — in its diversity with so many different and colourful stories and traditions, different faiths and spiritualties, expressed through in many languages and ways — that together weaves the colourful carpet of the human community, of which St Peters is an imprint.
We are invited to weave the canvas, to join the journey of adventure — to listen and to learn, to understand and celebrate who we are as a diverse, multifaceted and multicultural community.
Speech delivered by Pastor Silke during the Parade of Nations College Assembly