26 August 2005

Again, the week ends from pieces in "A Better Hope" by Stanley Hauerwas.

The tragic character of American history is unavoidable,since rights cannot help but conflict with rights; yet the very moral commitments that shape such a conflict produce a people incapable of recognizing, much less responding to, such conflicts. America is at once the name of an aspiration to liberty and equality of rights and the name of the power that stands in the way of that aspiration. As a result Americans find themselves at war not only with one another but with themselves.

So what do we do as followers of Jesus when, for example, our notion of "rights" conflict with one another. How do we enter into discussion? How do we help one another look again at what we hold so dear to us so that we can draw our own actions into question? There was a man in the coffee shop the other day who was making bigoted statements about gay and lesbians because he wanted to get the autograph of a well known athlete in the cafe. He was handed a copy of the local GLBT newspaper to use. He wouldn't have it put on "that" paper and then hung on his wall. When confronted by the women behind the counter he went on the offensive and said it was his right not to use that paper. He backed it up with the fact that he was a "deacon" at his church and he "believed in the Bible." He thought it was his right to act as he did. And yet, the women behind the counter thought it was there right to speak up for what they believed. I was briefly brought into the conversation but realized quite quickly that we were all talking past each other and therefore a dialogue of any substance was not happening between the parties that differed in opinion. But then...we all have a right to be there in the coffee shop. The battle still rages within in me. How do we talk within our different views of the rights we say we hold so dear?

Connection: When do we keep silent and when do we talk when there is a clashing in opinion about this or that? A good exercise would be to speak up but also make sure that we can listen closely enough to the other side to see if we are able to catch what their world holds dear. It is not easy.

Lord, you teach us to be maker of peace and yet we have so many fronts within our lives that are set up for warfare of various kinds. Deliver us in to the realm of your peace. Amen.