Day 13 • The Week of Peace

Scripture Readings:
Psalm 126
Habakkuk 3:2-6
Philippians 3:12-16

I’m often described by friends and family to be “overly analytical.” Maybe you are, too? Every personality assessment test, from Myers Briggs to Strength Finders, reflects this about me as well. Knowing this about myself has really helped me to discern my strengths and has also helped me to understand how this tendency might also be a weakness.

You see, being analytically forward, I can have a tendency to hear what someone says then immediately focus on their argument and their choice of words. Now, this really comes in handy in conversations where we are trying to solve a problem together or even have a friendly debate about an issue. Where it can be a hindrance though is when I focus on someone’s words and their “argument” and completely lose sight of their heart behind them. When I do that, I can hear anger- filled words and become preoccupied with the anger and their opinion, never once asking myself, “I wonder if they are dealing with fear or if something painful is causing them to respond this way?” In my work as a pastor, I have worked very hard to try to stay attuned to people’s feelings behind their words as much as the words they choose to use.

I’m finding the tendency to be “overly analytical” to actually be a very common theme within Western Christianity more broadly. Whether it is on social media or an interview, we will often hear Christians reduce people, especially those with whom they disagree, to their beliefs alone, then deem them as “right or wrong” based on those beliefs. This hyper-focus on what a person thinks or believes above anything else then extends to political and cultural conversations, which naturally disregards so much of the rest of our humanity. For humans, it is more than just a set of beliefs. It is such a dehumanizing perspective that has rooted itself in our Christian perspectives and so much of our Western World.

The tragedy about this dynamic is we can never get to the heart of what another person is expressing. When we hear “which side” of a political or theological issue a person is on, we are tempted to immediately categorize that person as one of “us” or one of “them.” Rather than embody the reality that this person bears the image of the God we claim to worship, no matter what they are expressing. When we then reduce them to their beliefs, it hampers us from being able to hear the whole person behind those beliefs.

I don’t know about you, but for the last several years, with all that has happened, it seemed like there was more sorrow and fear experienced than laughter and joy. The longing for things to be restored and goodness to flourish has taken its toll on so many people. Notice how this is the theme of Psalm 126? That when God restored all of Zion, the people were like “those who dreamed.” Their “mouths were filled with laughter and their tongues with songs of joy.” During the height of the pandemic, our political upheaval, or talking about the realities of climate change, I often heard people say to me that it’s hard to imagine a positive future. I will often hear people say in the midst of such division, that its hard to find those spaces to laugh and be joyful together. We desperately need spaces where we can safely lament and grieve together.

Notice how the Psalmist doesn’t say, “Now that God restored all of Zion, we were like those who believed and thought the exact same way.” Rather, the Psalmist paints a picture of God’s restoration that brings joy from tears and laughter from sorrow and the freedom to dream about a bright future ahead. I think this is such a needed message for our time. With all the anger and all the division, we need better ways of expressing our fears, our pain, and our hopelessness that often motivates our anger and divisiveness. If we can find even small ways of doing that for each other, ways that allow grief and fear to be expressed, I truly believe we will start to see glimpses of the peace promised to us through Christ’s arrival in our world.

Reflection Steps

I want to invite you into a two-sided reflection today. Think about those things that stoke your anger and even animosity towards others. Then, ask yourself what pain or grief you might be carrying regarding those issues. Ask yourself what fear you might carry with those issues. Does processing your fear and pain calm your anger in any way? Secondly, think of the people who hold opposing views from you on those issues. As genuinely as you can, ponder what fear or pain might be influencing their views. Ponder what personal experiences they might have gone through to bring them to that perspective. Suspend looking at them through the lens of “right vs wrong,” if even just for a moment, to see the whole person behind those views.