Christ, The Common Ground

Posted on October 29, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized, Community |

At a staff retreat right now and as I sit here with my computer, the Jazz Theologian himself walks up and asks, “so when are you going to blog again?” Although he’s not the first person to inquire about the quiet in this place, he’s is, as a fellow blogger, perhaps more influence than others. So, here I am. On a retreat. Blogging. For the first time in a while.

It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say. It’s that it seems like everything I’ve had to say is about the upcoming election, and this hasn’t felt like the arena to have such a discussion. So . . . let’s just get it out of the way, shall we? I’ve voted already . . . !!!
If I had it to do over, I’d do it again a million times. There.

Now, about this retreat. I am, not surprisingly, participating in the worship up here along with other worship leaders and singers in the church. This morning at breakfast I had a rather, um, emotional exchange with one of those singers about politics in which we, clearly, landed on opposite sides of the argument. Immediately following this, um, discussion, we sang together. Thankfully, we had a minute to re-address one another, move to a position of deliberate mutual respect and humility, and embrace the common ground of our love for Christ. We sang next to each other, in harmony before the God we share.

This same girl went on to give her testimony, sharing her story about how she came to believe in the love of God through Christ. Her story, complete with her battle with depression, family dysfunction, and crisis of faith, may as well have been my own. As my heart was overwhelmed with compassion for her, I was nearly embarrassed over what had only minutes before divided us - temporal, fleeting, material as it was.

That’s my prayer for our country during this election season. I know it’s simplistic . . . but I believe it’s entirely possible. That we, in our often divergent views, can - even in the expression of those views, stay rooted in the eternal love that binds. It can happen. Yes we can.

Peace and Blessings,

Nic

Psalm 20: 7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.