Another selection from "The Covenanted Self" by Walter Brueggemann.
Truth in love does not mean simply using another tone of voice. Truth, when uttered in agape, is a changed subject, for the truth about the neighbor, as the truth about me, is an evangelical truth of both command and promise. It is a mode of truth that summons us to become whom this Thou has always summoned us to be. The growth required for such maturity is not some fuzzy, pious business, but concerns the dailiness of how we have ordered our shared life and our common identity.
This sounds like a rare experience but it also sounds like the inbreaking of a whole new way of being with one another. This is that love of neighbor and self that makes all of us more human in the manner in which we were created. Truthfulness like this must come from a source of strength that is able to humble itself in order to not be afraid of what will transpire when the truth is spoken. It sounds as though the only way we come to such truth telling is when those to whom we speak the truth are seen as the beloved - just as we would see ourselves. In that way, it seems quite apparent that we would be truly looking after the well being of all sides - even our enemies...who now are within the bounds of those we love and to whom we thus can speak the truth.
Connection: Maybe this is another example of necessary it is to "count to ten." I also know there are occasions when I really need to count much higher than ten. Sometimes it takes much counting to help bring a sense of love into the truthfulness of this day. Maybe some days we will be counting more than attempting to "speak the truth." The important piece is that we do speak it.
It is within the power of the good news of your Reign, O God, that we begin to speak and act within the domain of the love you have for us. Help us to be vehicle of your love and a carrier of truth. Amen.
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