Yesterday, I was invited to watch a play being born. Lots of research had been done beforehand. The playwright had requirements for good plays. He had some answers to how this man and these incidents might be shaped into a play…

And then he invited in the actors, the costumer, the set builder and said… what about this, what about that. And they had answers and concerns… concerns about the action, concerns for their troop, concerns about the history and who could play what roles. Two of us were outsiders and we could ask different questions.

It was an amazing process. I didn’t feel as if I had a lot to bring to the party, as I’m a lousy historian and certainly pretty ignorant of the process and demands of plays… I was only invited because I’m the UU minister and this is a play about our valley’s important UU, Joseph Priestley…

But it was astounding to watch something beginning to take shape. I’m reminded of a friend’s explaining to me that the accurate biblical translation (i’m also a lousy biblical scholar and no biblical linguist) was “in their image, created they them,” indicating that the divine had many images.

So creation was a collaborative act in that particular understanding of the act. It was certainly mimicked here. Even though at the end, one person was going back with assignments, his task was now informed by critical input. It was fascinating.

And it helps me clarify how we best build Peace. If we each work on the pieces we know best, but we invite in the insight that other pilgrims offer us, Peace will be more stable, more lasting — and more fun…