As we speak to one another...
Why I thought there would be a return to civility I do not know. The Mueller report, ostensibly a search to determine if there had been collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Russia, had been so highly anticipated that whatever the results were going to be someone was going to be disappointed and someone was going to be crowing.
So, one side is basking in what it sees as vindication while the other side defiantly says more investigation is warranted. Sigh.
A trip to the Presidential museum in Springfield, IL, will remind one that snide comments and accusations, character assassination, crude cartoons, and incivility have been a part of our political life for years. A trip through history will reveal that this is the way of humankind; the pendulum of incivility in correspondence will swing from greater to lesser and back again.
St. Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians (4:1-15) is well worth keeping in mind. It speaks to the goal of being assertive, or perhaps even confrontational: when we are correcting someone or something, the aim is always both (1) to set things right, and (2) to be reconciled.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”
God bless your conversations. May they, spoken in love, ever be seasoned with salt and a benefit to relationships and to the world.
Disaster Relief
My thoughts over the past few days have been where a number of people’s thoughts have been – on the plight of those facing the flood waters on the Great Plains and in the Midwest. My wife, Jami, and I have most recently moved to Peoria, Illinois, from Norfolk, Nebraska, and our children live in Omaha, so there are many people we know who have experienced evacuation and tremendous loss. We have joined many of you in praying for God’s deliverance, strength, and blessings for those facing the flood waters.
If you would like to help, these are a few sites you might want to explore. There are no better stewards of resources for aid than Orphan Grain Train and the Nebraska District, LCMS. Thank you for your concern and care.
Ndlcms.org (and look under news and events for Disaster Relief. There you will find links for LCMS World Relief and Human Care Disaster Response, among others).
The Lenten Journey
A friend from college and I got back together after a few decades of not even knowing where the other one was (thank you, Facebook!). That was a couple of years ago.
But then, just last week, E. I. messaged me about an organization of which we were both a part in college. It was one of the more formative extra-curricular activities I experienced in college and it could use a bit of attention from the alumni.
While we were talking, E. I. expressed an interest in taking part in some type of Lenten discipline. Was there anything I could suggest? I happened to be looking at my bookshelf in the study and a volume of devotions written by Walt Wangerin, Jr., caught my eye. My friend purchased it that day and we talk each week about what we’ve read (thank you, Jeff Shoumaker, for that idea!).
In this way my friend and I are walking together on this Lenten journey. Such a pilgrimage, if you will, enables us to hold one another accountable. We are encouraged to keep up the discipline and we benefit from each other’s perspective. (These are the intended benefits of being in a Synod, a word meaning “same road”, i.e. “walking together”).
God’s blessings be yours in abundance as together we make this forty day journey through Lent.