The back-and-forth among colleagues, and I approach this as a professor, and thus with their students, and thus also among students themselves, sharpens the professor life and makes us all more tolerant of one another. John Piper has over the years expressed disagreement with that approach for leadership in the local church, and in a recent article at
As an evangelical Navy Chaplain, I have enjoyed fellowship with many other Chaplains, a great number of whom did not believe exactly as I did. If I had stayed in the local church, and as a woman never have an opportunity to minister, I would also never have had the opportunity to meet other believers outside of a very small circle. Instead, I have found that I was sharpened by others, I learned, I grew, I appreciated my faith, loved my faith more rather than diluted my faith.
I wider what John Wesley would say, today, to those of us who call ourselves “Methodist” of any type?
Anyway, I will definitely be reading this post more than a few times! Good stuff! I’m a relational person. I work hard to leave “right vs wrong” in my night-stand drawer. Focusing on that creates more troubles than it solves.
My dad, who would have been 97 yesterday, and our youngest child/son, who turned 43 earlier this month, taught me, and reinforced to me, how to deal disagreeing people, and/or those with whom we have differences: understand that there will almost always be parts of their story, if not all of it, that we know nothing about. These parts usually deeply influence what we have disagreements and/or differences about. Jesus seemed to be interested in, and understand people’s stories.
Sometimes, we are never going to agree, or get along, because, just because.
Very often, when we spend the “holy currency” of conversation, we understand each other enough to grow.
Well, there’s my 27 cents. Thank you for continuing to open our minds and hearts!
As an evangelical Navy Chaplain, I have enjoyed fellowship with many other Chaplains, a great number of whom did not believe exactly as I did. If I had stayed in the local church, and as a woman never have an opportunity to minister, I would also never have had the opportunity to meet other believers outside of a very small circle. Instead, I have found that I was sharpened by others, I learned, I grew, I appreciated my faith, loved my faith more rather than diluted my faith.
I believe the scene where the pastor sits alone in the church in early mornings comes from Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead.
I wider what John Wesley would say, today, to those of us who call ourselves “Methodist” of any type?
Anyway, I will definitely be reading this post more than a few times! Good stuff! I’m a relational person. I work hard to leave “right vs wrong” in my night-stand drawer. Focusing on that creates more troubles than it solves.
My dad, who would have been 97 yesterday, and our youngest child/son, who turned 43 earlier this month, taught me, and reinforced to me, how to deal disagreeing people, and/or those with whom we have differences: understand that there will almost always be parts of their story, if not all of it, that we know nothing about. These parts usually deeply influence what we have disagreements and/or differences about. Jesus seemed to be interested in, and understand people’s stories.
Sometimes, we are never going to agree, or get along, because, just because.
Very often, when we spend the “holy currency” of conversation, we understand each other enough to grow.
Well, there’s my 27 cents. Thank you for continuing to open our minds and hearts!
Great post. I believe I read Ralph Waldo Emerson say he preferred the empty, silent sanctuary. May have even been Self-Reliance.