Sometimes, when you are writing a newsletter article, you find yourself six paragraphs and several hours deep in very boring theological hairsplitting. That is generally a good time to bail on the whole enterprise. If you’re lucky, you already have something written that will fit the space; if you’re very lucky, it will provide a response to the bad draft you put together before. Please enjoy:
The Learned Theologians
We spent the afternoon disputing
If the rock was Peter or his confession
We closed our books still shrugging
And nursing newly-bruised egos
At least we didn’t have a Reformation about it
But perhaps we missed the point
Perhaps there are more worthy afternoons
Perhaps we should all be grandmothers
Perpetually asking if everyone has eaten
Which, of course, is not to say that the finer points of theology don’t matter, or that hashing them out can’t be a fruitful way to spend one’s time. But it’s all too easy for discussion to turn into disputation, and the good discomfort of growing in wisdom to become the bad hurt of bruised egos. I’ve found that as I approach that point, regardless of my conviction that I’ve got the idea right, I should probably attempt to love my neighbor in a less text and more casserole-centered way.
May your sense of self be secure in Christ, and all of your afternoons be full of good cheer and good food.
–Tom Rich
Image by Amanda Radebe from Pixabay