Yelling at Neighbors
“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” (Ephesians 4:25) I can totally imagine what that looks like in our current climate. I see a bunch of self-righteous people who think they finally have license to do away with the constrains of polite society and political correctness and get into the faces of their neighbors to yell them back onto the path of righteousness. I see anger. I see meanness. There seems to be an endless reservoir of cruel toxicity that is bottled up in many of us and that just wants to get out. I find it hard not to be sucked into this venomous maelstrom of self-righteous gasbaggery. It feels so enticing to drop all pretenses and start yelling. But then I open the Holy Book, and what do I read? “I am the bread of life”, says Jesus. And it looks like I have to make a decision whether to continue on the Highway to hell or open my heart to the truth which is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ truth is lifegiving, love sharing, kind and peaceful. Jesus’ truth is full of generosity, but it does not come with entitlements, it rather comes with obligations. Jesus gave us a new commandment, that we love one another just as Jesus has loved us. So, our first obligation is to love.
Rev. Olaf Baumann, sermon, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Port Angeles WA.
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