A short time ago I finished a chapter from Barbara Brown Taylor’s new book, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. Although I have read many other things today, those words have stayed with me. I have long been an admirer of Taylor’s words and her ability to turn a phrase that will stick with me—this was no exception.
As I got myself a fresh cup of coffee, I remembered her words that I just read:
"The fact that we need so much help understanding what we are looking at is a lesson in itself. How often do we assume that we know what we are seeing when we see other people practice their faith. Once, after I published a short essay on the way quantum entanglement illuminates the concept of divine union, I received a curt letter from a theoretical physicist. ‘It is not enough for you to think you know what physicists mean when they say something,’ he wrote. ‘You need to know what they think they mean when they say it.’. . . As natural as it may be to translate everything into my own religious language, I miss a lot when I persist in reducing everything to my own frame of reference. "
As I thought about the physicists words and Taylor’s reflections after that letter in the rest of the chapter, I wondered how often do I narrow everything that I witness in my world to my own singular perspective? Seldom is this done maliciously, but the fact remains, it is a more common practice than we would like to admit.
Then, as if the Holy Spirit was not convicting me enough, I wondered: How often do we as the larger church, presume to have a singular vantage point that presents the only correct answer to the struggles of our neighbors? How quickly do we judge them when listening and patience might be the better, more effective choice when we practice “being with’ them?
For I wonder, if we choose to listen more, to be present more frequently, and to suspect judgement, I wonder how often would we find God moving in the lives of people that we normally would disregard and disagree with?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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