In the past 24 hours, I have seen the memorials for 2 American icons from 2 vastly different backgrounds.

Aretha Franklin from here in Detroit where we now live was celebrated by MANY in word and song (for over 8 hours yesterday).  Her dad's church and her home base are not far from where we go to work at NOAH each week so it's familiar area and, since this is her home town, there was much buzz about town!

John McCain was just celebrated in Arizona and DC also by MANY in word and song over the past few days.  His dad and granddad served the country as did he and we just walked those D.C. streets this month where many honored him so it also feels familiar and again, much buzz about that town!

I was struck by the timeliness of these passings.  A black women and a white man who represented different cultures within this same country and were celebrated by presidents and leaders and singers and pastors and friends and family. Their services were definitely different because they each chose to be memorialized in the ways that were familiar to them BUT the thread that ran through it all was so very similar;  these were persons who committed to "something bigger than self" and, in doing that, they left a legacy worth leaning into.

In 1782, our forefathers adopted  the motto 'E pluribis unum'...'out of many one'...and THAT is what I was reminded of while watching the celebration of these lives. No matter the background, the life experiences, the trials, the talents, the bloodline, the diversity of folk standing in the streets or sitting in the pews, there was a ONENESS in the MANY.

I think it struck me most when I listened to the song Amazing Grace sung at each service (Google them and you'll see).  At Aretha's service, Jennifer Hudson sang a 7 minute version.  At John McCain's service, the Brophy Ensemble sang a 2 1/2 minute version. They were PROFOUNDLY different in their delivery and yet PROFOUNDLY alike in their message.  BOTH resonated with their own kind of 'Soul' and both resonated with God's kinda' 'Grace' and THAT is the "something bigger than self" that I so wish we would each grasp....those two renditions of one song exemplified for me what our forefathers meant by 'out of many, one'.

How I wish we would take that music and that message out of the pews and onto the pavement.

Indeed, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!

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