Matthew
11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I
am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light" (NIV).
This post is overdue.
There have been some moments, over the past
few years, when I haven't recognized myself.
If I'm honest, they haven't all been
bad. Change and growth are really
important, and sometimes these things are so transformative that we come out
significantly different than we began.
The good changes have included things like standing up for what's right,
even in the midst of controversy, and recognizing that God has given me a
unique voice that should, indeed, be heard in order to bring glory to God. The time for silence in the face of oppression
is over. At least in my life, that ship
has sailed, and I never want to call it back to port.
However...
We must be kind.
Sometimes I am afraid that it is too easy to
embrace the oxymoronic...
Here's an example...
Sometimes I get so passionate about
passivism that I start sounding violent.
Um. Nice.
I started thinking about Martin Luther King
Jr.'s quote:
"Darkness
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
that."
Violence cannot drive out violence. Exclusion cannot drive out exclusion. Lies cannot drive out lies. Deprivation cannot drive out depravity. Power cannot drive out power. These are not Kingdom values, friends.
Matthew
11:25, "Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have
hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little
children'" (NIV).
II
Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected
in weakness" (NIV).
I Corinthians 1:27,
"God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who
think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who
are powerful" (NLT).
Please, let me be the first to admit that I have sometimes
struggled for power.
I repent.
I am done.
Last night we were privileged to hold our first speaking
engagement for Via Illuminate, and here's the thing. A small group of people from a traditional, local
congregation stepped up in multiple, tangible ways to show that they do,
indeed, care about the least of these. I
haven't seen enough of that lately, but I saw it last night. And let me tell you this. The thing that touched my heart most deeply
was the senior pastor who prayed for forgiveness for the times when we (the
Church) have not seen the least of these as desirable or sought to meet their
needs. Friends. There are still good people in the world.
Sometimes I feel as if it's difficult to just survive to the
breakthrough moments, but they're there.
They're coming. Keep surviving.
And again. Be kind.
There is so much disagreement in the world. There is so much disagreement in the
church. If you want to fight, it's not
difficult to find a platform for that.
But I wonder how many of us really
want to fight. Maybe, instead, we might
like to share our stories with one another and then determine how we can best
work together, in our great and wonderful diversity, to bring redemption to the
world... since that's what we all actually want, anyway...
May we listen to the narratives surrounding us that compete
for our attention. May we listen to
understand, not to counter. May we
recognize the value of all people and seek to show love in ways that are the
most inclusive. May we remember that we
do not have it all together and we have not arrived.
Being weary is dreadful.
May we, instead, be gentle... and humble... and may we carry one
another's burdens. May we be holy. May we love like Jesus.
L.
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