Values, our core beliefs, the lenses through which we behold ourselves and our world, help us to make sense of our existence, to constitute what we call reality. Our values come with the costs of our necessity in attempting to act in accord with what we profess to believe and our accountability to all with whom we are in relationship. They also can pose a peril whenever we come in contact with another or others whose views of life and the world, diverging so greatly from ours, assault our sensibilities. When (not if) that happens, what to do?
During a summer-long respite, save for soul-deep, hand-wringing sorrow in response to warring and killing in the Middle East, for much of the time, I have been enveloped by a pleasant spirit, an irenic oasis of contentment. Enjoying my life. Spending that idealized “quality time” with my wife. Socializing with friends. For hours at a time, engaging enthusiastically in my most loved hobby, reading, mostly fiction, some history, and a bit of theology…
Then, Robert, my brother in law, a New York-based operatic lyric tenor (whose voice I shamelessly have coveted for years!), sent me this picture of a church billboard in Harlem.
I was stunned. I am not naïve. I am not surprised that one – whether person or people, community or coterie – could harbor such views. Still, as a Christian, nearing retirement from a nearly 40-year career of progressive, inclusive ministry, and, long before, from the time I stood at my sainted Baptist grandmother’s knee, an avid Bible student and a follower of a Jesus of unconditional love and justice for all, I am dumbfounded by any defamatory declaration. That this church is entitled to embrace and espouse its values, I dare not gainsay. However, I find abhorrent any proclamation of one’s views that vilifies, demonizes another.
This photograph has been as flint striking the steel of my beliefs setting my mind and heart ablaze in reflection. More to come…
paulrobertsabernathy 