Becoming Firefighters
How can we change the tone and content of
our communication before the fires devour all
we hold dear? Over the years, our discipleship
practices may have covered many important
aspects of our lives — marriage and family,
stewardship, marketplace witness, etc. — but
not political discussions or conflict resolution.
We don’t know how to talk about this. We’ve not
seen how working through disagreements might
be used to deepen our relationships and enrich
our life together. In the church, we’ve been better
at avoiding conflict than at intentionally facing
it.
We might begin by admitting an uncomfortable
fact: Our deeply held biblical values don’t all line
up with one political party. To admit this is to lose
the comfort of full agreement with either party
and to make ourselves face complexity. We could
start by arranging a dialogue where we listen
while others who love Jesus but don’t share our
political perspective explain their convictions
on debatable matters. During this exercise, we
should heed James’ admonition to be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
We should begin the conversation by reminding
one another of the Lordship of Christ and setting
some ground rules for respectful disagreement.
Motivated by Jesus’ call to love God and people,
we could create space for discussing how
public policies might best address our society’s
problems in more than one way. It would require
patience and sincere attempts at listening. It
would call for people to be reasonable and open
to the possibility of conceding some points along
pg. 8 — lightandlifemagazine.com
the way — so it would be a stretch! At the very
least, if minds aren’t changed on issues, hearts
could be softened toward others who took the
risk of explaining their convictions and listening
to those of the others in their church family. We
should bathe such exercises in prayer.
Finally, James reminds us that with our tongues
we praise our Lord and Father. As the Great
Disruption of 2020 has drawn our attention to
calamities and crises of biblical proportions, may
we not only look around, but look up. In times
like these, the church needs to lead the way in
pointing people to Jesus. Our privileged calling
is to proclaim the wondrous works of our loving
God and cry out to Him for justice and mercy to
prevail in our world. We are to be peacemakers,
prayer warriors and worshippers who choose
blessing over cursing. With one voice, it’s time
for us to cry out, Your kingdom come, Your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven! Under the
banner of our Lord, may we declare the praises
of the One who unites us, even as we walk
alongside those who fly a different flag. Taming
our tongues and dousing the flames in our small
part of the world will preserve the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.+
“How can we change
the tone and content
of our communication
before the fires devour
all we hold dear?”
/lightandlifemagazine.com