Keeping the peace

I'm disheartened by my inability to articulate my political position in a cogent, coherent conversation with my father. We talked and talked on the phone, and it seemed more like me talking to him (or at him?) instead of us discussing as adults the differences in our positions. In the end, my dear father merely said, "you seem very passionate about this."

That, my friends, is why he is my father and why, despite our political differences, I LOVE him.

My friends, on the hand, do not think so gently or kindly of me. I have friends who will vote for McCain (M: you're not reading this I hope), and I am afraid, no, I AM ILL, at the thought of us having to discuss our differences. Just ill. Just. Ill.

(Sorry, I had to say that. Just to see how it would read. I still hear her voice and it creeps me out.)

But at some point, we'll have to realize that our differences are everywhere and more apparent that we thought. Today, I sat in a large church, and the assoc. pastor prayed that we would never bring our divisions into the church because the church is the one place where we can come together in unity. (And the preacher had just finished his sermon which pushed a new agenda on their capital campaign: recreation as a new ministry.)

Hearing that, I couldn't help but think that what the church really is, is a place where our divisions can be examined and, sometimes, heightened. In reality, we do not leave our divisions aside. It's when we come to church that our separations and differences are highlighted -- like with a neon sign! (Issues of same-sex marriages, issues of women's ordination, issues of abortion, just to name a few.)

In the benediction, the preacher told us to be alert, to be on the lookout for God just might do something new. Here's something not so new, but still shocking to some of us: Christ didn't call us to always keep the peace. It's part of our responsibility as Christians called to faithful and effective stewardship.

So, I guess what this really means is I've got to suck it up and try to cross the aisles (or pews of the church) and actually engage...