Truth Landing: Speaking to Open Ears and Hearts
We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there…
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up
in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ...
~Ephesians 4:14a,15
Consider this recent online exchange I was following. Names are changed for privacy's sake
Timothy: Here's my newest hymn, written this afternoon and sung to [a familiar] tune!
Reggie: Will certainly not be timeless; destined to pass away and look very dated... Those who will be singing hymns in 100 years will not largely be [of your theological/political persuasion]. Experimental religion or radically political flashes like this lyric create almost nothing permanent, even though we can marvel at it for a few seconds, like a firework, before it disappears from sight and from mind.
Sheila: There is nothing wrong with writing hymns/songs/psalms for the moment and for a specific community... Reggie, please consider being more constructive rather than condescending. Also... only God knows what will be happening in 100 years!
Reggie: ...The fact is, critique is not condescending. I never said that writing for the moment is wrong. I said that it's bound to be forgotten.
Thomas: Reggie, brother, critique can be constructive or condescending. It is possible to say what you said in a constructive way (and perhaps have it 'land' in a more helpful way than it did) and I think you missed the mark.
What a real-world example of speaking (or not speaking) the truth in love... of the potential to build up or tear down. It may well be that what the critic had to say was legitimately true; he certainly thought it was. But it came across as condescending (AND an attack).
If we believe we have truth to speak, what a tragedy if the way in which we convey it actually drives people from that truth! We have done the opposite of what we intended. But if our words can 'land', truth has a soil in which to grow. In this exchange, Thomas could have piled on - "Reggie, you're a real jerk; leave Timothy alone!" But Thomas spoke truth to Reggie, about missing the mark... and Reggie was able to hear it; it landed.
Reggie: "Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others." That's from a prayer that I sometimes return to. In thinking about my comments, I think I've not acted in the spirit of this prayer. Asking Timothy to forgive me the offense I've caused.-----
Timothy: It is forgiven. Thank you for your apology!
Cross-posted from a blog post I wrote HERE for the Barnabas Center in Charlotte, NC
