Today's Scripture Reading (November 1, 2020): Luke 11
Plato remarked,
"We can easily forgive a child
who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the
light." We live in an era when we seem to love the dark. None of us seem receptive
to having our beliefs questioned. And that is a problem. Historically, a resistance
to outside the box thinking and an unwillingness to have discussions around
faith matters has led us into heresy. Honest conversations can be challenging,
but they can also be enlightening if we want to let light into our lives. But
we have to be willing to admit that the light is important to us no matter how
uncomfortable.
The Protestant Reformation was a
moment when new light was needed in the church. And regardless of which side of
the Reformation your faith tradition might stand, the Reformation had a positive
impact. But there was also a negative side to the protest. It introduced an unnecessary
division in the Christian Church. In some areas, the Reformation went too far, throwing
things away that should never have discarded, making the church weaker in the
process. But in others, it didn't go nearly far enough. We kept things that needed
to be discarded. But the biggest problem with the Reformation was that the
lines became finalized, and the conversation stopped.
We still need to have a
conversation in the church. We need to examine what we believe about violence
and resistance to our culture's beliefs with the light that shines strongly from
the words of Jesus. We need to re-examine our behaviors regarding same-sex
attraction and abortion with the light that shines out of the scripture, pleading
with us to love those who are different from us. We need the conversation. It
is not necessarily that our beliefs are wrong, although they might be. The lack
of conversation shuts us off from a truth that might be trying to make an
impact on our lives. We are afraid of the conversation.
One scenario that I like to
consider is asking the simple question, "what would Jesus do?" Yeah,
I know it is simple advice that belongs to a past generation. But for a moment,
consider this. I have an extended family member that likes to protest abortion
clinics. He is Pro-Life and is angered by the presence of abortion clinics in
his neighborhood. I want to ask where Jesus would be standing, outside holding
a protest sign or chained to the equipment of the abortion clinic. Would he be screaming
about the evil represented by the clinic or crying with the little girl making
one of the hardest decisions of her life? I am not asking if Jesus is Pro-Life
or Pro-Choice. I think he is Pro-Life. The question is, how Jesus to the
situation. And is there a reason why we don't want to stand where he would stand?
And just for the record, I think Jesus would always side withholding the scared
girl or even the woman who thinks she is doing nothing wrong, over protesting
with the religious elite.
We need to leave the Pro-Life versus
Pro-Choice conversation and begin to consider what our response should be in a
Pro-Choice world. I believe that, if love is our methodology, our Pro-Life
message would be more easily heard by those on the other side. But we have not
been reacting with love, and so a fight has resulted, one that concentrates on
a woman's right to choose. And whenever we begin to respond to the things about
which we disagree without love, whenever we refuse to be involved in the
conversation, it is then that our light becomes dark.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew
8
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