Peaceful. No television blaring with a 24-hr news channel. No phone ringing or full of emails and text messages (and no one else on their phones as I recall). I didn’t have to check a calendar, nor was I running a tourist race to see how many new things I could see. A week of study, prayer, a few contemplative hikes, and occasional visit to a pub with some live music.
A couple of days later I had morning coffee, cooked my own breakfast, sat outside and stared at the Slieve Mish mountains close by, and decided to do my studying outside. It was glorious. After a while I realized it was past lunch time and I decided I wanted another bowl of that soup and some brown bread, so I drove down the road to the same pub.
I walked up to the door and a man was doing some work outside. “Coming for lunch?” he asked. I said that I was. “Well, I can pour you a pint, but you can’t have any lunch. I don’t have a cook today. In fact, more days than not we don’t have a cook for lunch.”
To make small talk, I said, “Oh my. We have the same problem in the States. I guess that’s our president’s fault.” He laughed out loud, “Eh! Would that be Trump or Biden?” I told him probably both. He laughed harder. “I guess we could blame the Taoiseach, but I’d rather blame Brexit!”
And so, the old maxim, “You can run, but you can’t hide,” proved to be true. My peaceful escape from the American Gripefest didn’t last long – and I even contributed to it. Thankfully it was good natured. I had a pint and we talked about how much sport it is to talk about politics, religion, and to generally B&G. (I had to translate that for him – “bitch and gripe” - and he roared in laughter). Then I drove in search of a pub with food. I passed THREE before I found one with a cook – a good 15 kilometers on a very curvy road. Thank you, South Pole Inn in Anascaul village!
Society does it. Politicians and pundits model it for us which seems to give us license for it. It hurts in general, but it really hurts when it strikes close to us. You don’t have to be directly hit by a lightning bolt for it to cause damage to you or your property. Lightning can travel 25 miles in a combination of above ground and below ground.
I was eating lunch one day and someone who knew me asked me, “Sky, aren’t you from Martin (TN)?” I said that I was. “Man, I heard about that Methodist church up there. They have a lesbian pastor. I guess that liberal bishop is gonna try to push his agenda thru up there.”
I laughed, because (a) I know the pastor, and was her DS when she was graduating from seminary, and (b) if our bishop is a liberal then I’m a beach blonde with a tan. “Are you being serious?” He said he was, and that he’d heard it from people he knew. “Who?” I asked? Silence. Finally he said, “I guess that’s gossip, isn’t it preacher?” That wasn’t the exact word I was thinking, but I said, “Yes, if it’s not your story to tell, it’s gossip.”
It is true that some people have left my home church, for various reasons – just as people are coming and going from various churches and denominations, including the church I serve (we have lost some members, we have had as many new people attend or join). I hate to see any church or denomination go through strife, though they are as flawed and imperfect institutions as the people in them in this vastly polarized climate we have created and live in. The church isn’t free from what other institutions seem to need: demonizing and undermining the “other” so that “my side” looks better.
But what I hate, and what I’m fairly sure God hates, are the labels. The pigeonholing. The lies that will be told because it gives weight and credence to the narrative. I occasionally take time during church meetings to do “Mythbusters” – I just go ahead and lay out on the table the latest rumor, rumbling, gossip, or guesstimate that is out there, and let people ask as many questions as they want. Some people don’t like it (the confrontation), some laugh, many shake their heads. We like to B&G. We don’t like being confronted by the actual truth when it conflicts with our opinion or narrative.
Jesus was heavily criticized by others. Endured constant sniping. His words and actions were taken out of context. People misrepresented (i.e., lied) about things that he did or said. Many of these people were religious people who should (and probably did) know better.
Thank goodness for Jesus Christ: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2)
Galatians is one of my favorite Pauline letters. It teaches that the Spirit wants to produce in God’s people love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If our B&G sessions - or even our best critique - cannot be expressed in keeping with the Spirit, perhaps it is better left unsaid.
For certain, God is watching and listening: to our words, our thoughts, our actions. They matter, and we will one day have to give an account for them. He must increase - we must decrease.
