Dependence
There is no victory when someone loses.
Some have lost.
I have clergy colleagues who publicly identify as being either left or right. They preach left or right as if their personal location is something they have a right to use from the pulpit.
You may be fine with this, especially if their location aligns with yours.
I am not fine with this because I do not see the pulpit as a podium. Instead, I see the pulpit as a place where heaven and humanity come together. The pulpit isn’t an opportunity to promote an agenda, it’s the place where scripture is made alive through the people and situations in the sacred text itself.
Often times the sacred text is filled with conflict, discourse, and trial and error so that we can see our own conflict, discourse, trial and error. This does not become a weapon. This creates an opportunity for learning which leads to deeper and greater love of God who invariably leads us to loving other people not with agenda but with the goal of having—and being—more in love with God through others.
Scripture isn’t just head knowledge. It also speaks to, validates, and aligns the heart with messages that enable us to experience and share God’s love.
Sharing God’s love isn’t a challenge when we see the person in front of us. Our commonalities are great—or can be great in time—but genuinely walking in someone else’s shoes is required if we are to tread where Jesus journeyed and calls us to journey, too.
Maybe we don’t need to have the answer or the answers. Maybe we are to listen more than speak our thoughts, our experiences, and our truths.
This creates a dependence on God at every turn, in every circumstance.
Dependence on God is incongruent with what we, as a nation, celebrate today, and that’s Independence Day.
Do we really crave independence? If so, who are we independent from, and what victory can be claimed authentically?
The thinking that “I am right and they are wrong” creates a nation—and in turn a world—that leaves little room for God to speak God’s justice, grace and mercy.
I advocate knowing less and loving more. Countless times in scripture, Jesus came upon someone and already knew them.
For example, the woman at the well who had come for water met Jesus. She was there at noontime, the uncomfortable time of the day, because she was ostracized. Similarly, Jesus made contact with the tax collector Zacchaeus in a public place. Like the woman at the well, Zacchaeus wasn’t in the crowd. He was a part from it. In both instances, Jesus spoke from the place of knowing them before having conversations with them.
We aren’t Jesus. We don’t possess this gift of instantly knowing someone, yet we Christians are called to be like Jesus.
How do we become like him? We first listen. This listening is just that—it’s listening. This isn’t a first step so that we quickly assess the situation, gain an upper hand, and drop what we think is right on them.
Jesus talked with the woman at the well. By doing this, he gave space and time for her to share her story. Similarly, Jesus invited Zacchaeus to dine with him not so that he could lecture, but listen.
The disciples—those who were so very, very close to Jesus—had moments of self-revelations after time with Jesus where he listened to them. Some of these revolutions we read about. Some we do not.
It is clear that scripture depicts Jesus as a lecturer. He was—and is—a teacher. Jesus did have an agenda, but, like us, he was dependent on God.
Be dependent on God. Know less. Listen more.
I am speaking universally and specifically when I repeat there is no victory when someone loses.
With dependence on God, we can have less loss and far more love.
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