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Mar 1 2017

I love our church for many reasons including the diversity of politics represented in our congregation. The Sunday after the president’s executive order banning travel from certain countries I had memorable conversations with two church members about what had happened. One member was filled with excitement and optimism, another with frustration and dread. Yet they both came to worship God together at our church. I find great hope in that, and it got me thinking about practical advice for how to passionately disagree yet maintain our unity as Christians.

At the core of doing this well is maintaining a deep value for people even when we deeply disagree with their ideas. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” God loved the whole world. God certainly didn’t agree with the ideas or actions of many people, yet God deeply valued those people.

With that in mind I’ll suggest three principles for passionately disagreeing, Christian-style:

• Acknowledge the other person’s good qualities. In the heat of passionate disagreement, it’s tempting only to notice the negative qualities of people on the other side. I’m confident we’re all a mix of better and worse qualities and acknowledging the good in people I disagree with helps me value them.
• Seek to understand the other person’s position. James 1:19b-20 says, “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” If I can listen to another person’s position and understand where they’re coming from, I find it easier to value them as a person even if I still passionately disagree with them. James suggests listening also leads me away from anger, which helps me avoid acting in ways displeasing to God.
• Practice non-violence. Revolutionaries in Jesus’ time tried to instigate change by meeting violence with violence. Jesus met violence with peace. His non-violence demonstrated his value of others’ lives even over his own and ended up changing the world far more than the violence of his contemporaries.

Whether we see eye to eye on politics or passionately disagree I value you, I’m grateful we belong to the same community of faith, and I look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday!

In Christ,
Rich

Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson

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Mar 1 2017

photo by miguelb (CC BY 2.0)

I received an e-mail recently seeking stories of sudden realizations that prompted a major life change. The e-mail came from Chip and Dan Heath, authors of many leadership and communications books I have read. They shared the story of Julie, an office worker, who saw a co-worker really enjoying her job. Julie realized that the co-worker held a position she would likely hold in a few years. Julie also realized that she would never enjoy it like her co-worker did. In a flash of insight Julie realized that many of the annoyances she experienced at work were actually all connected. They were part of the job, a job that was a poor fit for Julie’s personality. Julie had experienced a “crystallization of discontent” that led her to seek a career change.

Reading about the concept of a crystallization of discontent reminded me of a speech I heard years ago by pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church   outside Chicago. He talked about “holy discontents” or things he would see that bugged him, things he just couldn’t shake. For example, he noticed that some customers at a local car wash treated the employees poorly. He noticed the same thing at other places of business and in other situations. In a spiritual crystallization of discontent, he realized that wealth differences underlay what he saw: some wealthy people valued or de-valued others based on how much money they made. He saw this as a spiritual issue, a “holy” discontent, and began looking for ways his church could respond.

I encourage you to take some time in prayer to consider the things that annoy you. Ask God if they may be connected in a way you’ve not realized before. Perhaps God will give you a new insight. Perhaps you’ll experience a crystallization of discontent. Maybe God will prompt you to action.

Next week I’ll write about a related but opposite experience, the crystallization of contentment. Sometimes one realizes that many positive things in life actually have a common link, and that realization prompts a response.

I hope to see you for worship Sunday! Have a great weekend!

Rich

Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson

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Mar 1 2017

photo by Herzi Pinki (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The day after last week’s presidential debate I went to the Internet, curious to read people’s responses to it. On Twitter I found that the back-and-forth over which candidate is a puppet had spawned a flurry of tweets with the hashtag #GotNoStrings. While I understand the desire not to be thought of as a puppet, there’s Biblical wisdom in acknowledging, “I’ve got some strings on me.”

I find fascinating the books of Exodus through Joshua. They tell the story of God’s people from their escape from slavery in Egypt through settling the land of modern-day Israel. In between those events come books of legal code specifying rules for everything from religious rituals to economic transactions. The stories and legal code bear witness to God trying to shape the character of a new nation, and it’s clear they’ve got some strings.

Near the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua gathers the people together, recounts their history and God’s role in it, and then says:

Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:14-15

Joshua takes for granted that he and the people he leads are puppets of a sort. They willserve some god. They’ll either serve old gods, new gods, or the one God. The freedom they have is not to choose if they’ll be a puppet but to choose who’s pulling their strings.

What gods pull your strings? I have strings binding and pulling me to a need for approval and a desire to be seen as smart by others. Those aren’t good. I also have strings that bind me to family, friends, church, and community. They pull me in various directions and mostly – but not always – to the good. Joshua’s words remind me to acknowledge my puppet-like nature and to address it.

God, make me aware of the strings that bind me to false gods. Help me to choose to serve you and you alone, to commitment first and only to you and to let all other commitments flow from that one. Amen.

In Christ,
Rich
#GotSomeStrings

Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson