Degrees of Separation

Sometimes it seems like we are so isolated.  Yet the small world phenomenon proposes that all people are separated by only six degrees:  that is to say that in six steps of introduction from friend to friend, we could meet any/every one else on the earth.  This theory gained popularity through John Guare’s stage play, Six Degrees of Separation and through the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” ( a game created by three Albright College students, which established that any individual involved in the film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps.)

A rabbi friend of mine in Los Angeles swears that though everyone else is separated by six degrees, the Jewish community is so close that they are only separated by FOUR degrees, and he proved it to me with numerous examples.  However, now that I have moved to the South, I’ve discovered that Southerners are separated by only THREE degrees of separation… it seems that everyone around here knows or is related to everyone else.

And yet, whether they be Hollywood stars, members of the Jewish community or even southerners, so many people still struggle with loneliness, isolation and estrangement.

As we enter Holy Week, may we remember that, in fact we are all only separated by only ONE degree:  one person is all that separates us from everyone else on earth… and that person is Jesus the Christ.  In Him, the walls that divides humanity from God; person from person; race from race and tribe from tribe have all come tumbling down.

This Holy Week, may we be astonished all over again at this good news, and enter into its mystery with glad and grateful hearts.