Opportunity

How is everyone doing? 

It has been some time since I last asked that question, and given recent events I thought it would be a good time to check in as we all try to process the news coming out of Washington. The last two weeks have been…well, I don’t know what to say about them. For me personally, they have been days of both hopefulness and disappointment.  For the country, it has been a time of further division.

I have already made my views known on the gun control issue (I am for common sense gun safety laws and the banning of assault weapons) and I think that’s a good place to leave things for the moment. I have no problem standing up for what I believe in, but every comment, every position taken these days just seems to lead to an angry response. Which, in turn, leads to more division.

Sometimes division is unavoidable; sometimes the gulf between our views is just too great. When that happens, we have a choice: we can give in to our anger and go to war (literally or figuratively) for our agenda, or we can open a genuine dialogue and try to reach an understanding. We have been warring among ourselves for some time now and it has not really worked out very well.  Maybe it is time to talk with one another.

We can take our cue from the early Christian church.  Today is the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul and the reading appointed for today gives a glimpse into one of the most divisive issues for the disciples: whether to allow gentiles to join the church. One faction basically wanted gentiles to first become Jews before being allowed admittance. The other faction, led by Paul, took the opposite position.

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”  And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.

The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.  After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “… why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. (Acts 15)

Debate. Consideration. Silence and listening. And ultimately agreement.  There is something to be said for not shouting over those with whom you disagree. You and I might not agree on gun control or reproductive rights, but I am willing to have a conversation, to listen to you and try to understand your point of view. And I would hope you would be willing to do the same with me.  The goal is not to win over the other person to your opinion, but to come to a deep understanding of one another. Carl Jung wrote –

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

Our disagreements are an opportunity for transformation and whether we admit it or not, we all could stand to be transformed emotionally and spiritually. I for one still have a lot of growing to do in both of those areas. That is why I need to be challenged by people who think differently than I do. I cannot grow by surrounding myself with people who think exactly as I do.  I need to be challenged; I need to be stretched by new ideas.

As always, if we deal with one another in love, recognizing our own brokenness, we just might reach a place of understanding. It beats where we are now. The choice is ours.

Grace and peace.