Continuing thoughts

I want to continue to reflect on some of the learnings I have had over the years. This is a continuation of what I started with my first post. If you have not read that, you can catch it either at the Facebook page of Elkhorn Valley or on my blog at reveldon.blogspot.com. I wanted to share three more insight that I have had this month which is post-Easter. You can feel free to add your thoughts either on the Facebook page or my blog. I would be curious if you find the thoughts helpful for you and maybe ideas of how this could be applied to the church. Anyway, here goes.

The one insight which continues to be debated in our society and even in churches is how to respond to violence. Many advocate for the concept of preventative violence to counter the fear of further violence. Sometimes this becomes so heated that we move away from what Jesus says about violence and what Paul says using scripture from the Hebrew scriptures. Jesus in the gospel of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount chapter 5:38-42 discusses that when one strikes you that you should not retaliate in the same manner. He goes on to say in 5:43-48 to love unconditionally even one’s enemies. Paul using Proverbs 25:21-22 speaks of not returning evil for evil in Romans 12:18-21. “Don’t be defeated by evil but defeat evil with good.” Throughout history violence usually begets violence. We struggle in our own lives as to how to live true to what Jesus and Paul talks about and yet not be anxious or fearful. I am not sure I have the answer. There are several concerns regarding this issue and it is more than 2^nd Amendment rights. It is more than gun control or extensive background checks. It is more than mental illness. It is all of these and more about where is the line between individual rights and the rights of society to live without fear of another massacre or to go about peacefully without anxiety.

Another reflection deals with the tension between individual rights and wisdom and the collective rights and wisdom. Many have talked about the issues of individualism and collectivism. Robert Putman wrote in “Bowling Alone,” about the changes that appear to be happening in our society regarding the shift to more individualistic thinking and acting. Perhaps this is not so new as the debate in church has centered on individual salvation versus salvation for a people. Amitai Etzioni wrote a book on “The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society.” His focus is on the need for community rather than the focus on individualism. Either extreme of this continuum is problematic. Individualism in the extreme can be if it feels good go ahead and do it thinking. It becomes all about the person regardless of the effect on others. It is self-centered. It can become at the extreme, narcissism. Our disengaged society seems to be present in many areas of church, nation, and the world. The other extreme is the collective. This can lead to group think. One must conform to the group identity. These groups have rigid boundaries and often spend time scapegoating those who are different then they are. These can be cults and extremists. Healthy relationships are somewhere between the extremes where there is a healthy sense of self and caring for others.

The last insight for this time is that there are no failures only learnings. The key to this is learning. So many times, people or churches do the same thing over and over expecting something different to happen. The thought is that this time it will work only to find out that nothing changes. So even though we found ways that it did not work, are we learning? I spend time thinking about what has not worked for me and I have found in my life that I have lost sight of why I am doing what I do. I believe the focus on our lives, the life of the church, and even in our community needs to have a better understanding of the why. Why leads us to what is my and our mission in this time and place. When we can see the why, the vision of what we are doing becomes clearer. When the why and vision are aligned, the how becomes more evident. It seems that at times we want to short cut the work of finding the why and go to the how we are going to do what we want to do. It seems the idea of doing the same thing over and over without the learning what is needed will not make a difference or lead to change. Or we try to do things without reflecting on why we are doing this. it is not a question of doing things just because others are doing this. It is about first spending time processing the why and the how and what will follow.