...is that it's difficult to interact with those that are not generous. I currently find myself at a crossroads in dealing with a few people who view the world differently. Disagreements are usually a hard situation to navigate in the first place, but when the disagreement revolves around religion or the Bible the situation worsens exponentially.
We've all been there before and know exactly how it plays out.
One person is right and the other person is wrong. This has plagued the church ever since the Protestant Reformation when we found out it was easier to separate than to reconcile. Separation allows us to keep our integrity in our minds because we stood up for what we believed in. Some might even think that they have suffered for the gospel. But what if suffering for the gospel meant putting aside our own personal beliefs/convictions and learning how to live in a way that reflects the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).
So let me ask your take/advice on this matter. How does one continue to pursue generosity when it is not reciprocated? How can one begin a dialogue that might lead to a disagreement and not have it blow up in their face? Lastly, what does generosity look like in the face of great frustration?
I would take an Athanasius posture and exile that weasel Arius(Big gulp)!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you listen in our conversations! Problem is that the bishops won't listen to someone in the lower left corner of the org chart. Remember our place!
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what the two of you are talking about, but I'll be generous with you. :)
ReplyDeleteFunny, but the word "generous" is sort of a substitute for the word "grace." Not entirely, mind you, generous certainly implies an acceptance, whereas grace often includes a tolerance, or am I wrong? I have always found ungenerous or ungracious people to be the hardest to love as Christ loves. That is hard to confess, but nevertheless very true.
Sometimes, though, when I read the Gospels, I am intrigued about how Jesus communicated with the ungracious/ungenerous. I mean, what do you think? Is calling people a brood of vipers ok? Then I remember that I am not, in fact, Jesus - perhaps I need to err on the side of just uncovering the ungenerous sides of myself.
I TOTALLY feel your pain in this post.
I know there's one part that you may not get, but the other you probably get better than we do. Look up the Arian controversy in church history. I had a prof who used to call Arius, "that Wiesel Arius." Just know that Doug took a church history class in grad school that got us to talking about that subject from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to think through your questions about generous and gracious. I think generous includes tolerance as well but here is where I think the two, while closely related, differ. Being generous I think accepts the other for who they are or how they act and is tolerant of the situation. In the spirit of being generous we try to enter into conversation to where we understand and can begin to dialogue about both the differences and similarities that are found between both parties.
I kind of think that gracious is a little bit deeper of a concept. Mind you this feels like I'm splitting hairs here, but I think gracious has an element of awakening for the other attached to it. Here's my thinking on this, I believe that God offers us grace not only to make us what we cannot make ourselves, but also to awaken us to who God is. If God were only generous with us, would we be called to make a change in our life? Would there be a need for trying to go deeper in finding out who we are and what God desires for us? I think because grace makes us what we cannot be on our own that we are drawn into a process of discovery where we begin to realize more and more who God is and what God desires for us.
If this is so how do we as people in need of grace who realize it, go about trying to awaken those to the grace that is being offered in Christ? Jesus could call the ungracious/ungenerous a brood of vipers because he was the embodiment of grace but in the last line of your comment, "perhaps we need to err on the side of just uncovering the ungenerous/ungracious sides of ourselves."
Does this make any sense or did I just go down a long and winding rabbit trail?