But no longer. It is now possible to discuss covenant in the context of disagreement.
Followers of Jesus Christ are beginning to realize that covenant speaks more to relationship than it does to theological agreement. Jesus made it clear that covenant people commit to "turning the other cheek" and "praying for" those considered enemies.
This is no easy task! Indeed an endeavour quite impossible if not empowered by the spirit of Jesus Christ.
It is only reasonable then for followers of Jesus Christ to extend that same grace to fellow members of the body of Christ. If covenant people are instructed to love their enemies, how much more their brothers and sisters with whom they disagree?
In a recent trip to Israel/Palestine an ecumenical organization challenged a group of denominational leaders that unless we are able to speak as a unified voice of diversity, we have no platform to offer anything to the situation in the Middle East. I agree.
A reshaped understanding of covenant is an important challenge to a world becoming increasingly fragmented by ideological, theological, and ethnic conflict. Followers of Jesus Christ must stand ready to embrace disagreement within the covenant of loving your neighbour as yourself. This is not a poetic ideal. It is a covenant responsibility.
The global community has considered it important to remember the devastation of war. Divided church bodies realize destructive outcomes of internal conflict. Loss of life, destruction of families, relationships broken by harsh words are the lamented impacts results of armed violent conflict. Such lament should be expressed. But so should a commitment to peace that displays a new comfort with disagreement. Disagreement is an opportunity for conversation, not a reason for conflict. The Christian faith must learn to embrace disagreement if it hopes to be relevant in a diverse world.
I think God has provided an opportunity for the church of Jesus Christ to shine. This is a chance to display a renewed commitment of love and respect for all people of diverse understandings. It is an opportunity to boldly model how to remain in disagreement without resorting to hateful and hurtful rhetoric. It is an opportunity to portray the compelling love of Jesus Christ.
I pray that we will rise up to this opportunity. I pray that followers of Jesus Christ everywhere will commit themselves to represent the covenant of disagreement.
Well said, Willard.
ReplyDeleteFinally it is not our theology that holds us together, but our relationship with Christ - or perhaps more profoundly, Christ's relationship with us. From the cross, Jesus looks down at me and my enemies with the same eyes of grace and compassion. His suffering love has placed us in a binding covenant together. Whether or not we agree (or even particularly like each other) is beside the point.
Well said!
ReplyDeleteNicole Wallace at MSNBC today referenced a “covenant of disagreement” (she credited someone but I missed whom she named) as something that President-elect Biden is going to try (unstated - with God’s help) in the deeply divided U.S. Congress and among the (also deeply divided) American populace. In context I gathered that the “covenant” part will insist that the common good is paramount to ideology and power politics, while seeking common ground in the midst of disagreements as deep as any I’ve seen in America since before WW2.
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