I hate conflict.

 

For most of my life, I avoided it at all cost. I am a middle child, which traditionally identify as peacemakers. I certainly prefer being called a peacemaker over being called an avoider!

 

Depending on the personality test I take, whether it be Meyers-Brigg, Strengths finder, or Enneagram, I usually come out with these traits: Harmony, Peaceful, Intuitive, Empathetic, Stabilizer and so forth and so on.

 

I don’t like tension.

 

I usually experience it as pain, and therefore want to quickly move past it. I like getting back to my comfort zone. I am a creature of routine. I don’t intentionally seek disruption in my life.

 

Needless to say, these three months have been full of conflict, tension, unrest, and excruciating amounts of pain.

 

Fear, lack of control, and the inability to understand or listen well have flourished in this hectic season of life.

 

There is a deep human need to be understood. And in trying times, that need to be understood is exacerbated. So much so that we sometimes want to force others to see from our point of view. As I respond to emails, get book recommendations, videos, articles, news feeds, tweets, and talk with folks about all that is going on in our world right now, I find myself often silently lamenting in my mind, “I just wish they could understand __________ (enter anything really) from my perspective!”

 

It is agitating not to be understood, listened too, or heard.

 

And you know what is the worst about all of this? I often find myself muttering something along those lines in the exact same moment someone is trying to get me to understand them! In the moment that they are trying to get me to see the world through their eyes, I lament that they cannot see it through mine. What a vicious cycle. Anyone else tired of it?

 

This week I read short tweet, and a response to it, that really got my mind going.

 

 

I love Chance’s question. You can hear the desperation to be heard. You can hear the deep desire for understanding. And I both love and lament David Dark’s response. I desperately want to coerce or force change in others. But when I think about my own life, my perception is most often altered through story/song.

 

This is why Scripture is so powerful. It ambushes us.

 

I see myself in the pages. I see you in the pages. God invites us to a righteous ambushing. May we be open to it. Let us Worship.

 

Song – God of the Poor (Beauty for Brokenness)

 

A Prayer To Love Those Whom I Do Not Love by Genevieve Graves

Lord,
You who love this person whom I do not love,
You who read the hearts of others whom I do not understand,
You who know the inmost suffering of those whom I ignore,
You who discern the efforts of each one in attitudes which I perceive as deceitful:
Open my eyes and my heart.
You also know me far better than I know myself;
You love me better than I love myself…
Lord! Teach me to love with your love. Amen.

 

Scripture Reading

 

I encourage each of you grab your bible and read the entire chapter of Acts 16. You can also access it by clicking here.

If you’re feeling really energetic, read all of chapter 17 too. I am going to reference several of these stories during the mediation, so being familiar with them will be to your advantage.

 

As you are reading Acts 16 and 17, underline or write down every time God does something extraordinary.

 

Underline moments of majesty, renewal, surprise, adventure, and understanding. Underline gospel truth and goodness.

 

If you are short for time, and can only read one story, read 16:16-34. It is the story of Paul and Silas being imprisoned and how God intervenes.

 

Song – Build My Life

 

 

Meditation

So what did you highlight? What did you underline?!?

 

Was it Timothy’s willingness to be circumcised in order to better minister? Yikes!

 

Was it Paul’s willing to circumcise his adult buddy? Yikes!

 

Was it the vision Paul received from God, beckoning him to Macedonia?

 

Was it Lydia’s conversion, and all that God was already up to in order to prepare her? Was it her beautiful home church?

 

How about when Paul and Silas undermine the oppressive system that kept that demon possessed girl trapped in a money making scheme, as a slave?

 

How about that prison episode? Can you imagine yourself imprisoned for disrupting an evil act… feet fastened to stocks?

 

How lovely and powerful is the scene where Paul and Silas continue to sing and praise God despite their circumstances. And the earthquake! And their refusal to escape?

 

 

How about that reaction from the jailor? What humility and understanding he demonstrates. He gets the power of God that he just witnessed. And my goodness, his whole family becomes part of God’s community over night.

 

 

 

I love the part where Paul and Silas publically shame the powerful Romans.

 

In chapter 17, we see that Jesus’ disciples have turned the world upside down.

 

King Jesus is proclaimed! Paul goes to Athens and preaches a sermon to intellectuals. They begin to listen. They begin to understand. Paul demonstrates that he understands them, their values, and what they are looking for in the world. Some scoff, others want to hear more.

 

Acts 16 and 17 are full of gems. I marvel at all that occurs in these two brief chapters.

 

But…

 

For those of you that are familiar with my preaching style, you know I love a good setup. So get this…

 

Do you know what happens right before all that amazing stuff in chapters 16 and 17?

 

Acts 15:36-41 (CEB)

 

36 Some time later, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all the brothers and sisters in every city where we preached the Lord’s word. Let’s see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them. 38 Paul insisted that they shouldn’t take him along, since he had deserted them in Pamphylia and hadn’t continued with them in their work. 39 Their argument became so intense that they went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.40 Paul chose Silas and left, entrusted by the brothers and sisters to the Lord’s grace. 41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

 

Paul and Barnabas had a special relationship.

 

They had ministered together. Performed miracles together. Built churches together. They had shared in adventures together, worshipped together, and learned how to preach the good news together.

 

And in Chapter 15, we see the end of their relationship.

 

It dissolves. They refuse to listen to one another. They refuse to work it out. They walk away from one another. It breaks my heart. Nowhere in scripture is there a strong case that they ever reconcile.

 

Can you imagine, after being rescued by divine providence in a Jail, while eating dinner at Lydia’s house one night, Paul, probably having a glass of wine, begins to retell the story of the stocks being loosened and the walls shaking. I bet his whole body got involved in telling the story. Silas probably interjected several times, making sure Paul didn’t miss any details. Imagine the faces of the children as they listened. And as he looked around the room, I bet Paul longed to share the good news with Baranbas. But he wasn’t there. Their relationship was broken. Despite spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world, the same good news couldn’t salvage their relationship.

 

We are living in a time where many of us are beginning to become so frustrated, so angry, so insular, that we are writing one another off.

 

When we aren’t understood, when we aren’t listened to, when we refuse to listen and we refuse to understand our siblings from a different point of view, we lash out, disown, or worse, begin to hate the very person we used to serve alongside.

 

When someone says, “Black Lives Matter” they may immediately be labeled and written off. Humanity stripped from them.

 

 

 

 

When a frustrated police officer, who has given her entire career for the betterment of society, reads the headlines, she feels hurt, accused, and begins to resent the community she served.

 

 

 

 

 

When Christians align with the LGBTQ community, and they are accused of no longer following the Bible, it stings. Christians they have served alongside their entire lives accuse them allegiance to agenda over allegiance to Christ.

 

 

 

 

When Christians align with a specific political party, president, or news program, how often do we find ourselves immediately stereotyping them and deciding the value of their input, and ultimately, their inherent value diminished?

 

 

Don’t get me wrong. I know this is real life. Divorce happens. Friendships dissolve. Healthy boundaries are needed. People leave churches. Wrongs need to be called out. Reconciliation doesn’t start without sin being called out.

 

But for the love of Christ, can we recognize the human in front of us regardless of their stances on politics, economics, theology, or even their temperament?

 

I wonder what Paul and Barnabas could have done together had they worked it out.

 

I wonder how the Kingdom of God would be different.

 

I wonder what it would have cost them to understand one another.

 

To listen. To be heard. To be known. And to know.

 

I hope God ambushes each and every one of us.

 

This is going to be a lonely, divided world, if we don’t start paying attention to the stories within Scripture, and the songs God places upon our hearts. But get this, we need to pay attention to the stories of others too, and the songs God has placed on their hearts as well.

 

We could all use a holy ambushing. Maybe then we would see person in front of us instead of the argument we have reduced them to.

Amen.

 

A Prayer Against Indifference by Madame Andre Walther

Jesus, Just and Holy One, thou liftest up the weak and weepest with those who weep; thou didst take part in the simple joys of the wedding at Cana! And I? My eyes always turned toward heaven I often pass by indifferent to those who cry out for my sympathy, and my lack of charitable love can make others accuse thy doctrine of drying up the heart. O thou who allowest me to count myself among thy disciples, change these bad attitudes that remain in my heart. Amen.

 

Benediction

From Matthew 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you 45 so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.46 If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.”

 

Note from David:

I will be out of town and completely off the grid without any cell service from Sunday to Tuesday. Normally, when a comment is added to the service, I have to login and approve it before it posts. Since I will be out of town, please expect delays in all comments. They will be posted, but slower than normal. Thanks and God bless!