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If you digested my article, you know I've finally felt the heat of reticence. I want to do something about it. Gay relations is only one issue about which God's people should be voicing their concerns. Whatever the snares of life, new and unwary victims are born daily. We can help light the dark paths they are destined to trod.
Are you feeling the heat too?
Are you troubled by what you see happening in the world? Gender confusion, gun violence, moral decline, loss of innocence and respect, substandard schools, and on and on. Are you angry, frustrated, or sad? And feeling helpless to do anything about it?
The emotions are understandable, but they need to be expressed constructively. Doing nothing will only increase them.
Clever politicians know this. They've caught the wave, worked us into a frenzy, and hope to ride it to seats of power. But in doing so, they're only exacerbating the great divide. They'll never have the power to save us.
Our thoughts of helplessness, however, are merely ploys of the enemy - that which seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.
We're not helpless. We have a voice. And the more of us that use it, the more forcefully it speaks.
But our voices can't be heard if we're isolated.
Modern conveniences, our infatuation with entertainment, and the infiltration of ineffective or unscrupulous media from any viewpoint on the spectrum have sown apathy or discord in our hearts and pushed us away from one another. As a society, we've abandoned faith and community. It didn't happen overnight. It crept in like water heating under a frog's belly.
The once-solid ground beneath us has given way to jarring earthquakes. We're hunkered down in trenches, exchanging words laced with barbs and shrapnel rather than compassion and understanding. We've succumbed to using vitriolic labels, choosing sides, and listening only to what we agree with instead of considering other viewpoints and learning about the plight of people who differ from us.
Just as isolation deafens our voice, shouting through the megaphone of an angry mob fails too. No one will hear us. Communication is relational. If we've disrespected others, they won't listen to us. Why should they?
But there's hope.
It's time to rebuild. To reconstitute. To resolve. It's time to repair broken bridges and construct new ones. To connect. To communicate once again. To understand one another. To leave the sidelines, listen well, and speak the truth in love.
It's what we're called to do.
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