November 8, 2018
“Our Strength”
At a recent leadership meeting one member of the team was questioning everything the other team members wanted to do. After a half hour of back and forth conversation, the team could no longer stand for it and the leader basically told that one ‘questioner’ that they loved him and expected questions from him and were glad that he was there to keep everyone focused.
As I was driving home after the meeting I remembered that one of Faith Lutheran’s strengths (from our CAT Survey) is that we can disagree with each other and still work together. I think that is a sign of spiritual strength.
But then I reflected upon the congregation’s history. Several years ago a group of the congregation decided that they could not disagree and remain here…so they left. Their departure caused tremendous grief in the congregation because people were sad to see their friends and family members go to worship somewhere else. But I think it was more than that…the group who left had a strong conviction and acted upon it. I suspect they believe that spiritual strength comes from acting upon your convictions and not being wishy-washy. I suspect that their actions caused people at Faith to doubt that spiritual strength is demonstrated in caring conversations and patient listening that leads to sharing Jesus without agreement on every issue.
In our broken and dysfunctional world it is great witness to Jesus that we can love each other because Jesus loves us all. We don’t just love people who act or look like us, or believe the same way we do. Our basis for working together is our common dedication to Jesus. Jesus’ mission is to demonstrate how much God loves “the world”. Our shared devotion to Jesus is our strength.
“Our Strength”
At a recent leadership meeting one member of the team was questioning everything the other team members wanted to do. After a half hour of back and forth conversation, the team could no longer stand for it and the leader basically told that one ‘questioner’ that they loved him and expected questions from him and were glad that he was there to keep everyone focused.
As I was driving home after the meeting I remembered that one of Faith Lutheran’s strengths (from our CAT Survey) is that we can disagree with each other and still work together. I think that is a sign of spiritual strength.
But then I reflected upon the congregation’s history. Several years ago a group of the congregation decided that they could not disagree and remain here…so they left. Their departure caused tremendous grief in the congregation because people were sad to see their friends and family members go to worship somewhere else. But I think it was more than that…the group who left had a strong conviction and acted upon it. I suspect they believe that spiritual strength comes from acting upon your convictions and not being wishy-washy. I suspect that their actions caused people at Faith to doubt that spiritual strength is demonstrated in caring conversations and patient listening that leads to sharing Jesus without agreement on every issue.
In our broken and dysfunctional world it is great witness to Jesus that we can love each other because Jesus loves us all. We don’t just love people who act or look like us, or believe the same way we do. Our basis for working together is our common dedication to Jesus. Jesus’ mission is to demonstrate how much God loves “the world”. Our shared devotion to Jesus is our strength.