Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Opinions


Sometimes I hear from people who agree with or appreciate what I write. I hear much less often from people who disagree with or don’t appreciate it.

You expect both agreement and disagreement when you write an opinion piece, which is what I do. You know what they say about opinions: everybody has one. Someone’s opinion might line up with mine. Or it might not.

Back when I was a pastor, I’d sometimes say to my congregation, “Sometimes I’m right and you’re wrong, and sometimes you’re wrong and I’m right.” My saying that is #9 on my list of Forty-Seven Reasons I’m No Longer a Pastor.

Here’s the thing, though: I do think I’m right. I do think that my opinions are more correct than the opinions of people who disagree with me.

If you stop and think about it, you’ll realize the utter reasonableness of that statement. If I didn’t think my opinion was more correct than those who hold a different opinion, then I’d share their opinion, and we wouldn’t disagree anymore, would we? And vice-versa.

I do try to follow some guidelines in expressing my opinions.

Guideline #1: humility. I recognize my limitations. I am limited by my background and by my experiences. I never forget that not only do I not know everything; I don’t even know all that much. I know a lot about a little and a little about a lot. I remember that I am always learning and growing. I acknowledge that I might not be fully right. I may even be wrong. Occasionally.

Guideline #2: honesty. I try to tell the truth. You may agree or disagree with what I say. I may be right or I may be proven wrong. But I assure you that I never write anything that I don’t believe to be the truth. I realize that what I say might sometimes rankle some readers, but I say it because I believe it’s true, not because I want to rankle. I will admit to hoping my words challenge folks, but again, I want to challenge you with the truth, not with lies.

Guideline #3: love. My goal is for love to motivate everything I write. That means that compassion and empathy undergird my words. It means I want to encourage us all to put other people ahead of ourselves. Such motives characterize decent human beings. A human being who follows Jesus should find those motives being amplified. I write and share my opinions with the conviction that it is better to be loving than to be right. But I hope I say everything I say because of the love I have for people and because I want us to love each other.

You might not think that adhering to those guidelines in forming and expressing an opinion is necessary.

Well, with all the humility, honesty, and love I can muster, let me say that sometimes I’m right and you’re wrong, and sometimes you’re wrong and I’m right!

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Some Things I’m Thankful For


As our annual day of Thanksgiving approaches, I thought I’d share some of the things for which I’m thankful.

      1.     I am thankful for people who are self-aware enough to know they’re not self-aware enough, open-minded enough to know they’re not open-minded enough, and well-read enough to know they’re not well-read enough.

      2.     I am thankful for people who give me hope for the future by doing risky things like getting married and having children.

      3.     I am thankful for how my Bible beats me about the head whenever I’m tempted to use it to beat someone else about the head.

      4.     I am thankful for those churches that invite me to preach in the hope that they need to hear what I have to say and for those churches that don’t invite me out of fear that they won’t like what I have to say.

      5.     I am thankful for people who live authentically without devaluing the experiences of others.

      6.     I am thankful for people who are able to live in gray areas where tension and nuance dwell.

      7.     I am thankful for those whose political positions begin with wanting what’s best for others rather than with what’s best for them.

      8.     I am thankful for people who are brave enough to think for themselves and wise enough to know that most of what they think has probably been thought before by someone else.

      9.     I am thankful for those who see and treat people as sisters and brothers to be loved rather than as objects to be manipulated.

      10. I am thankful for people who find strength in weakness and weakness in strength.

      11. I am thankful for those who move toward the future with hope and faith rather than cling to the past with fear and despair.

      12. I am thankful for people who are humble enough to know they don’t have all that much to be humble about because they aren’t as great as they think they are anyway.

      13. I am thankful for people whose agreement with me encourages me and for those whose disagreement with me challenges me.

      14. I am thankful for people who live in ways that show they try to remember that loving God and loving people go hand-in-hand. 

      15. I am thankful for those I’ve lost who help me appreciate those I have and for those I have who help me appreciate those I’ve lost.

      16. I am thankful that grace is greater than sin and that love is greater than hate.

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day, and I hope you’ll give some thought to what you’re thankful for.