Those words seem a strange way to start an essay on Christian faith; they are, after all, words found on many U.S coins. I am not sure why, but for years I thought the words meant "one among many", which stood for a sort of American exceptionalism. The actual translation of "out of many, one" suits my theology much better. It speaks of unity and the ability to come together and work together for the common good.
I was listening to PBS evening news last night (January 1, 2021) and much to my delight the segment ended with an interview with Bishop Michael Curry (the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and one of my "bosses"). He published a book last year which he titled The Way of Love. He spoke of his family and the things which influenced him and then moved to quote this motto. I had not thought before about its origins (which is odd for me since I am one of those geeks who wants to know from where everything comes). There are several thoughts on the matter: One is that the Roman poet Virgil used the phrase when describing the creation of a chutney that we would now call pesto. That does not seem a likely source for such a lofty motto. So it seems that the Roman senator Cicero is the source of the interpretation we use and he was referring to our dear friend Pythagoras (shades and shapes of geometrical forms dance in my head).
"When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many (unus fiat ex pluribus), as Pythagoras wishes things to be in friendship."
Cicero was paraphrasing Pythagoras but what is fascinating to me is that he is talking about self giving love!! Note: this is not about rugged individualism nor negotiating for a position of power nor trying to claim the most and the best as your own. It is not at all about exceptionalism, but rather about community and caring. We need to think about that when our laws are crafted; laws that in general pit the wealthy against the poor and continue to divide us along lines of race, gender, location, age and all sorts of other categories that are an antithesis to what the motto means.
I am quite aware that this is not the "official" motto of the United States, but it is certainly a motto we claim. Now we need to live up to it! We need to teach this in our schools; I never remember hearing anything about Cicero and how this was chosen back in the day.
Thank you Bishop Curry for starting my New Year on a good note and for inspiring me to go further than I have ever gone.
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