We are Bound Together in God
“Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The sharing of a common life is like to that above. -
vs. 1 of
”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” lyrics by John Fawcett”
”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” lyrics by John Fawcett
Do you know that hymn? John Fawcett wrote it in 1782. Fawcett was an English Baptist minister in Wainsgate, England and served a very small and poor congregation. As the story goes, he was offered a more prestigious and lucrative position with a church in London, but at the last minute changed his mind and decided to stay in Wainsgate, where he remained for 54 years. He wrote “Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” for the Wainsgate congregation.
Those lyrics remind me of something that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."
In 1963, King had been arrested in Birmingham, AL for nonviolent civil disobedience and protesting unjust laws against black people. While in jail, King had been criticized by white ministers for pushing too hard with protests to change these unjust laws. King’s Letter was his response to them, making the point (among others) that it is wrong to expect people to wait patiently for injustice to end. “Justice too long delayed,” King wrote, “is justice denied.”
Before our God we come and pour our ardent prayers
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares -vs. 2 of ”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind”
Fawcett and King wrote in two very different situations. Fawcett wrote his hymn in a loving, supportive community in rural England. King wrote his Letter in a moment of conflict with both the Birmingham political leadership but also with the white ministers. And yet, they both came to the same conclusion... what affects one of us affects all of us, because we are all bound together in God.
This idea of solidarity, of community with each other - even if we don’t know each other - has been on my mind a lot lately. From Gaza to Ukraine, Venezuela to Greenland, Minneapolis to Berrien County, we are all tied together. We are all children of God. What happens to people in those places affects me and you here in our community.
No matter where we live, and no matter what our situation, we all want very similar things - enough food to eat, a place to live, people to love and be loved by, clean air and water, freedom to worship and think as we choose, the opportunity to pursue the life we desire, and a life without oppression and violence. Our Creator has put these same desires and dreams in all of us.
While it’s easier to realize this shared humanity with the people we know, or the people who look like us or think like us, we are called as the Body of Christ to also realize our shared humanity with people who seem different or are far away from us. We are called to put ourselves in the shoes of an immigrant living in fear in Minneapolis or a woman mourning the death of her husband in the war in Ukraine, because we all have known fear and grief in our lives.
We share each other’s woes, each other’s burdens bear,
And often for each other flows a sympathizing tear.
Our shared humanity in God, though, is what makes it possible for us to bear our own burdens as well as the burdens of others. God’s Spirit binds us in community, and it is in this community with people - wherever they may be - that we find the strength and courage, to make it through the moments of pain, celebrate the moments of joy, and care for each other on this Earth.
Both Fawcett and King echo the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, “Above all, clothe yourselves in love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony,” (Colossians 6:14)
