Today's Scripture Reading (August 19, 2025): Psalm 35
Desmond Tutu
(1931-2021) taught that "If you want peace, you don't talk to your
friends. You talk to your enemies" (Desmond Tutu). The comment seems to be
upside down. If I want peace, I want to spend time with people I like. Why
would I want the argument that always comes with someone who thinks differently
from me? I had a friend years ago who often told me that "a bad day
golfing always beats a good day at work." It feels like that is the model
we need to follow. Maybe a bad day with friends always beats, and is more
peaceful than, a good day with our enemies. But I also know that Tutu is right,
even if his instructions are difficult to put into practice.
However,
Desmond Tutu's advice is something with which I firmly agree. And I honestly
try to carry out this advice in my life. The problem is that it is sometimes
hard to find dance partners who are willing to join the discussion. We live in
an era where we are more willing to build up the walls between us than we are
to tear them down. Several years ago, I attempted to set up a meeting between
me and the closest thing that I have to an enemy. I made it clear in my request
to meet that I had no desire to change their minds; I just wanted to sit with
them and talk about our differences. But my request was denied. They didn't
want to talk to me. It is becoming increasingly difficult even for people of
good conscience to discuss and disagree. We don't want conversations with
people with whom we disagree unless there is a possibility that we can bring
them over to our side of the issue. However, my views, even on significant
issues, don't make me either moral or evil. We should be able to have
conversations with people even if there are substantial disagreements between
us.
Instead, we
make incendiary statements, we make up charges, we blow up the disagreement far
beyond what is real. When I made my request to meet with my colleagues with
whom I admit that there are significant disagreements, the response was not "we
don't want to meet because we disagree concerning the role of love within the
Christian Faith, the role of women in the church, or the fate of same-sex
attracted people." The response was "we don't want to meet because we
don't agree on anything." However, that is not true. While there are
issues on which we disagree, I believe that there are many more issues on which
we agree. There is no need for us to magnify the differences between us; they
are big enough already.
David speaks
of a particular kind of people he believed were evil. And some of the
characteristics of these people are that they didn't want peace. They tended to
blow up the differences between them and their perceived enemies. They made
things up and brought strife even to those who lived quietly in the land. Maybe
that is the problem here. We should mind our own business. The promise we need
to rely on is that we serve the one who burns the dross and keeps the silver. I
sincerely believe that when the end comes, many of the disagreements we have
with each other will be the impurities of the Christian life, and our God will
disregard them. I hope that once those impurities have been removed, there will
be something worth keeping in what is left. But I am not sure that we value
what God says is worth saving. Before that time comes, I hope we can learn to
speak peaceably with each other, and live quietly in the land, concentrating on
the log in our eye, instead of the speck in our brother's or sister's.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 36
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