From the Preacherman….
As I write this our country prepares for a transition of power. A new
president will be inaugurated on January 20 and a different administration
will take charge. For some of us this change in leadership heralds
something positive, for others something negative. As a pastor for nearly
three decades I have seen administrations come and go, for good and for
ill. How shall we live with one another in the days to come?
First, can we please tone down the language and rhetoric we use?
Hyperbole is a dead-end street. The language people are using for the
election is often apocalyptic, announcing the end of the world! Nope. We
need to get over our breathless, straining need for the next crucial event to
pop up on our cell phones and instead listen more carefully to the people
around us.
On that note, how about this? Turn off your television, computer,
social media, etc., and talk to someone different than you. Locked away and
can’t do that? Well, my phone works. Call or email me at church. I’ll talk.
I’m sure we can find something to disagree on agreeably. And that’s the
point, right? Jacob wrestled with God on the banks of the Jabbok River
because the truth of God is in the wrestling, the give and take, the struggle
and the effort and finally, the refusal to let go until we have been blessed.
Here is what I know: I refuse to let go of the people I love in my church,
especially those who have radically different ideas, views, beliefs and
politics. There is blessing in the struggles we have with each other. Do not
let go until you know that.
And where did I learn that? Well, in church of course. I learned it in
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with people who have disagreed
with me over a hundred different things but agree with me in Jesus Christ.
How shall we be one? I don’t fully know, but for a few weeks I am going to
preach about some of the things I find essential and important as a
Disciples of Christ pastor. What matters? The Table, the Bible, our faith in
Christ, our unity with God and neighbor and this wondrous creation all
around us. You know, small things. 😁
Not really. These are big things, huge and essential and profoundly
important. Let us wrestle with God in the midst of these trying times until
the blessings come.
Peace….Chris