The Common Good

What is it that binds humanity together?

Sometimes it is a reminder from people like Jim Wallis of the Sojourners Community in Washington, D.C. 

Here’s part of an e-mail note that I recently received from Jim; one that caused me to remember that we are not alone:

“I started 2012 with a three-month sabbatical to write a book — a book about the common good and how we seem to have lost this concept in our politics and our society.

What I learned in the course of writing was how ancient the concept of the common good really is. This quote dates back to the fourth century:

This is the rule of most perfect Christianity, its most exact definition, its highest point, namely, the seeking of the common good … for nothing can so make a person an imitator of Christ as caring for neighbors.

—John Chrysostom (ca. 347–407)”

The past Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Mardi Tindal, has written that;

“We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.”

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