RECKONING

I’m living in a name calling society sounding much like squabbling kids did, yelling at each other on the Will-Moore grade school playground when I was growing up in Bismarck.

People call those with whom they disagree or disapprove, names like “whore”, “the devil”, “moron” and far worse. This is justified as speaking in the name of decency. But it’s then I’m given pause, trying to reckon and make sense of it all.

My go to reference is a Nazarene carpenter who had an “otherworldly” understanding of the human condition.

I thought I’d check out how he handled a promiscuous woman and other situations back in the day. He did not call the woman at the well, a whore. But he did treat her with compassion and respect. Most people know that story, but still it seems lost on us. Pulitzer Prize winner, André Gide said, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

It seems the only people the carpenter had words for, were people of the religious community…self-righteous Pharisees and the like, as well as those who were trying to monetize the sacred.

I gotta tell you… I’ve been rendered so much grace and mercy in my life. I know what I’m capable of if left to my own devices, and see clearly who I am without the immeasurable grace I have received. So how could I do any less for someone else?

I think of the story of the landowner, who was forgiven, a great debt, but then would not forgive the debt of his servant. I don’t want that to be me…merciless and ungrateful. I want to tend to the list called “the fruit of the spirit”, which includes these words: peace, forbearance, kindness, gentleness and self-control.

Do I acquiesce to those things that I don’t believe…Well certainly not! that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I think that sometimes I forget, or choose to forget the import of this prompting, “it is not by might and not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.“ I realize that people highly value their opinion, and the sound of their voice…And I am so guilty of that.

I’m slowly finding it is far more important for me, in humility, to be light and salt to the people with whom I interact, than any opinion I could trumpet. Though the anonymity of social media has seduced and emboldened the masses, it is in visceral relationships that we have the most effective impact. Not our loud impersonal voices, but the decibel of living, caring and kindness.

“The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”