Scripture: Proverbs 14:29
Patience leads to abundant understanding, but impatience leads to stupid mistakes.
Thought for the Day: The CEO of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, caught the attention of many earlier this year when he urged his company to engage in tough conversations and move beyond mere tolerance. “Tolerance is for cowards,” he said. “Being tolerant requires nothing from you but to be quiet and to not make waves, holding tightly to your views and judgments without being challenged. Do not tolerate each other. Work hard, move into uncomfortable territory and understand each other.” Our faith invites us to move beyond tolerance and to do the hard work of attempting to understand one another. It will require a lot more time than most people are willing to give. It is much easier to tolerate in the moment, and then disparage and dismiss at a later time. At the end of the day we may not agree, and though it might be nice if we did, the more important outcome is a relationship that respects the other.
This is a bit of challenge for me to write this day as I watch the news and the hatred being spewed by white supremacy groups in Virginia. I don’t wish to understand or even tolerate such ugliness. Yet at the end of the day, much of the hatred we see is actually fear and ignorance working hand-in-hand to find a common enemy. Fear looks for someone to blame while ignorance looks for someone to belittle. To dismiss such folks is to push them inward where there are no voices to counter their misguided views. Engagement, that seeks to understand, opens the door for the hatred to be changed. Like I said, I don’t really wish to understand or tolerate such ugliness, but that is not going to bring about lasting change and transformation.
Prayer: Provide me patience, O Lord, as I encounter those whose hatred and ugliness stirs within me hatred and ugliness. Speak to me your words of grace and mercy, and then provide me opportunities to engage and seek understanding, to challenge and allow for your Gospel to work. Amen.
SEE YOU IN WORSHIP
