As Christians and Americans too, we have a concept that we must be kind. The problem with that philosophy is that it enables people to maintain inappropriate and destructive behavior without fear of recourse. At the UMC General Conference, I was reminded of this all too plainly.
Our instructor for the class and trip to the conference is a seasoned veteran of the conference system and he opened my eyes to many of the nuances and political dances taking place within the committees and through the petitions. As I said before, this is not my world. The one point he made which led me to post this blog was that the church is too kind – kind enough to sacrifice the organization to save the feelings of the individual.
Our church is to be the body of Christ in this world. We humans were created to be in God’s image and although we strayed from the garden, God has not stopped in pursuit of re-imaging us. Where did we become so one sided that we determined that standing up for God’s Word, our Creed, theology and beliefs were not principles worth fighting for? What do we see in the Bible that indicates that Christ would just sit down in the face of injustice or distortion of God’s word? I believe that righteous anger can help us to see and promote the truth. Tough love is necessary to teach right from wrong. And most of all I believe there will be some who never get it, no matter how hard we try to teach or give to them.
It’s not easy, this commandment to love thy neighbor, nor is it easy to continually love a wayward child who refuses to change. God does though and we need to try to do the same. Yet, God showed jealous anger. Cities were leveled and the Israelites were enslaved that they might learn, repent and return to God. In the long run, this was truly kindness. It reminds me of the mother giraffe. When the baby is born in order to survive, the kid must learn to stand and run almost immediately. Failure to learn those skills can lead to death not only for the baby giraffe, but for the mother or other members of the herd. So, the mother will proceed to knock the new born down until it learns. That at first glance does not seem like kindness, but in reality it is the greatest love.
PS – Checkout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXJZmlz_W4 for a smile from the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir. (A friend from seminary filmed this.)
Posted by Darcy
Faith Venture 
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