To my beloved brothers and sisters...
There's a certain kind of grief that invokes silence. For several days I've watched our interactions, much like a child who is present as his parents argue.. the pain is deep. I pray it doesn't become calloused.
There's a certain kind of grief that invokes silence. For several days I've watched our interactions, much like a child who is present as his parents argue.. the pain is deep. I pray it doesn't become calloused.
Yet, I feel I must speak. Not to give voice to the clamor, but as an appeal to reasonableness. In light of our witness to a watching world, and an ever present God, I ask you, my friends, to forebear...
Of course, I know patience and temperance is unlikely during these times. Yet, it is required of us. We don't represent ourselves anymore. Our opinions are to be filtered. Truth, if spoken at all, must be done so in love, compassion, empathy.
Nevertheless, I know where this ends. For I too have felt so passionate about my biases, so agrieved when someone disagrees with me that it becomes personal. I have often been the weaker brother. My immaturity on full display.
Not that I've grown much, but I have seen much
Not that I've grown much, but I have seen much
So I will just ask for your kindness in indulging me this one time.
To Pastors: you have been called for such a time as this. For many of you, dismayed and bewildered, social media becomes a photo op. To show your strength. To display your calling. If I am wrong, I only ask
To Pastors: you have been called for such a time as this. For many of you, dismayed and bewildered, social media becomes a photo op. To show your strength. To display your calling. If I am wrong, I only ask
That you consider carefully how telling us that we non pastors would be best served by just "preach the gospel" falls to us. If by this you mean "do the work of an evangelist", I couldn't agree more. But, if you are attempting to say something more...
Please know that there's bitter fruit that may spring from a slogan. No matter how well intended, "just preach the gospel" may be presuming upon God's means, your calling, it's efficacy. At best, it confirms the tribe that agrees with you..
At worst, you're objectifying God by assigning a mission to a people he didn't call simply to prove a point. Moreover, to do so out of a heart that isn't looking to encourage, exhort, but just rebuke dims the light of the God who called you.
To my brothers and sisters who are frustrated by the inaction, or passivity of the Church to address societal needs...
Be assured the scripture aligns with you in many ways and in many places. Yet, if through our actions we confuse
Be assured the scripture aligns with you in many ways and in many places. Yet, if through our actions we confuse
our opinions, what we agree to or dissent from, if in all matters of conscience we portray our biases in such a way that these preferences identify us... This becomes how others view our mission. The witness of the Body must not be compromised, or held to
standards that inevitably divide or destroy her. Holding things indifferent as litmus tests to determine our tribal allegiances abuses and binds consciences, and weakens the unity of the Spirit to the world.
I'm not overly optimistic that these words will fall the way they
I'm not overly optimistic that these words will fall the way they
we're intended. I pray they do. Just know that whoever you are, you are loved by Christ. He walked perfectly, not for himself, but for us all. Laying down his life that we could be free to love God and neighbor should not be cause to co-opt his Person
and work to fit our narratives. To do so is akin to taking the name that's above every name...in vain. #guardyourheart
