Bridges and Ravines

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine attended a conference. Knowing that sometimes she can become overly passionate about some of the issues that were to be discussed, she developed a mantra for the weekend: "Be a bridge, not a ravine." At first the mantra was for her own use - to calm her nerves, to make her feel better about the situation in which she found herself. By the end of the weekend, however, many of us had started making light of her mantra. Now the importance of that mantra, that prayer, has taken a life of its own for me.

A colleague of mine, whom I only see once a year at a sales meeting, is the creator and author of the Wesley Blog. (Please note that the views of the Wesley Blog and this blog are solely the views of their owners and not those of our employer). While our theological concepts fall on opposite ends of the supposed spectrum, he and I were friends and collegues before we knew one another's theological beliefs. Our conversation this time, however, focused on blogging. I told him I knew about his blog because of an interview he did with Beth Stroud. This opened up discussion - dialogue - about being bridge builders. I could have easily ignored him all of sales meeting. I could have easily demonized him, like I admit I have done to others. I could have given him a piece of my mind and pretended I was being "prophetic." Instead, I did something that was more difficult - I met him where he was, I shared part of my story, I made a commitment to conversation, prayer, and mutual love, and we shared time together as conduits of God's grace. I was a bridge and not a ravine.

Hodgepodge

It's been almost a month since my last posting - and I promise I have good excuses. Between moving, work, school, and travels, I have been too exhausted to write much. I suppose writing would be a cure to exhaustion on some level.

Most of my body, soul, and spirit was occupied by preparations for the Reconciling Ministry Network's "Hearts on Fire" convocation at Lake Junaluska, NC. Words cannot express the experiences of the weekend and I'm sure I'll write more about that later, but what is on my mind today is the flurry of controversy that surrounded the event.

Many neo-Orthodox members of my denomination denounced the event, held in the strong-hold of Methodism in the Southern part of the Church. It is my belief that such a vocal inhospitality led directly to the protest of the event by a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The very same voices that spoke out against the worship-filled weekend have recently stated that they do not condone the hate-talk of the KKK. I fail to see the difference between words of hate and words of inhospitality. The same philosophical and theological constructs that causes one, causes the other. Fear permeates both langauges.

Thankfully only a few sad KKK members showed up to protest. And the comments of the inhospitable ones can be seen on their website as noted above. What moved me the most was the hospitality shown us by Lake Junaluska administration and staff and the people of Waynesville.

The number of thoughts regarding sexuality and racism (connections and disconnections), what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and hospitality are too numerous to begin to unpack here, so I leave with this thought. When John 3:16 comments, "God so loved the world that God gave God's only Child," I think "loved the world" means all, not just some.