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As I added the last few stitches to repair my green dress, I realized how my heart resembled that torn piece of cloth. I wished I could find a way to sew up the hole in my heart, too. It’s not something that can be fixed with a needle and thread, with an answered question or with anybody’s attempt at finding a justification for the lack of fairness.
But my heart-hole also reminds me that each of us have a personal stake in the systems or ways of this world, both good and bad. Because of my time serving in Madagascar, my heart feels scrubbed, stretched and worn through.
While I can’t close the chasm of systemic injustice by myself, I can close other distances. I can go to choir rehearsal. I can gut fish and carry water. I can learn the language. I can love by listening, learning, working, singing and praying alongside friends, family and people from all walks of life. I can’t reverse all the oppressive, systemic sin in this world, but with God’s help, I will build a bridge of green thread. We can pull our worlds, stitch by clumsy stitch, closer together.
This message is excerpted from “Sewing lesson” by Annika Johnson in the March 2020 Gather magazine.