Romans 12:14-16 in the TNIV and Message translations
First, I want to thank Brad for carrying all the load on the Intake blog and so many other things recently, as Elizabeth and I have been attending to family issues during her mother's illness. We are especially thankful for our community in times like these. Now, to the text...
Now my first thought is to justify myself and say, "self, you're not stuck-up, and you don't think you are superior," which on one level may be true but robs God of the opportunity to teach me and grow me. So I have to make a conscious decision to open myself up, let God broaden my vision.
This morning I gave the invocation for the YMCA partners campaign kickoff, and before I prayed I talked about two single parents who live nearby that I knew had personally benefitted from the partners fund when they needed help with their kids. Later I met another single mother of four whose kids receive after school care through the partners fund. I'm slow, but I'm starting to connect the dots. I asked the Y director about the single parent connection, and he said, "about 40% of the kids in our after school programs are from single parent households." That's at our local elementary schools, in our neighborhoods. There are two single moms that I know of on my street, and I'm sure my street is probably normal; multiply that by the dozens and dozens of streets around here and you get the picture: hundreds of single parent households. Let's add to that the lesbian or gay households. And add to that the ethnic and international households. And add to that the households where the inhabitants are rough around the edges, or seem to party too much or too hard, or the one where the cops seem to show up every so often. The point is obvious: my neighborhood is not nearly as homogenous as my social circles are. We don't have to be "stuck-up" as we perceive it to be actually stuck-up in practice; all we have to do is let social gravity pull us into the orbit of those like us. We don't have to actively think we are superior; we only have to make no effort to overcome whatever social barrier exists between ourselves and others.
Now, when I go back to Paul's opening phrase in verse 16, "Live in harmony with one another," I see something different. Harmony is a great word. Musically, it is two or more voices singing the same tune, each in its own unique way, but each compliments and enhances the other. Harmony is impossible among people who have no connection. Multiple solos do not equal harmony. There is no "live and let live" in harmony, no "good fences make good neighbors." And the better people know each other, the tighter the harmony gets, the better the music.
I need to be passionate about making harmony where I live. I can't be satisfied with only connecting to the other married couples with 2.5 kids, or only people with my same skin color, or only the people who make me comfortable, or whatever. The best I may be able to hope for with that crowd is nice unison, single-note music. But God is calling for harmony, for my voice linked to voices not like mine. That's beautiful music, and when it is sung the world stops to listen.
First, I want to thank Brad for carrying all the load on the Intake blog and so many other things recently, as Elizabeth and I have been attending to family issues during her mother's illness. We are especially thankful for our community in times like these. Now, to the text...
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not think you are superior."
v. 16 TNIV
Now my first thought is to justify myself and say, "self, you're not stuck-up, and you don't think you are superior," which on one level may be true but robs God of the opportunity to teach me and grow me. So I have to make a conscious decision to open myself up, let God broaden my vision.
This morning I gave the invocation for the YMCA partners campaign kickoff, and before I prayed I talked about two single parents who live nearby that I knew had personally benefitted from the partners fund when they needed help with their kids. Later I met another single mother of four whose kids receive after school care through the partners fund. I'm slow, but I'm starting to connect the dots. I asked the Y director about the single parent connection, and he said, "about 40% of the kids in our after school programs are from single parent households." That's at our local elementary schools, in our neighborhoods. There are two single moms that I know of on my street, and I'm sure my street is probably normal; multiply that by the dozens and dozens of streets around here and you get the picture: hundreds of single parent households. Let's add to that the lesbian or gay households. And add to that the ethnic and international households. And add to that the households where the inhabitants are rough around the edges, or seem to party too much or too hard, or the one where the cops seem to show up every so often. The point is obvious: my neighborhood is not nearly as homogenous as my social circles are. We don't have to be "stuck-up" as we perceive it to be actually stuck-up in practice; all we have to do is let social gravity pull us into the orbit of those like us. We don't have to actively think we are superior; we only have to make no effort to overcome whatever social barrier exists between ourselves and others.
Now, when I go back to Paul's opening phrase in verse 16, "Live in harmony with one another," I see something different. Harmony is a great word. Musically, it is two or more voices singing the same tune, each in its own unique way, but each compliments and enhances the other. Harmony is impossible among people who have no connection. Multiple solos do not equal harmony. There is no "live and let live" in harmony, no "good fences make good neighbors." And the better people know each other, the tighter the harmony gets, the better the music.
I need to be passionate about making harmony where I live. I can't be satisfied with only connecting to the other married couples with 2.5 kids, or only people with my same skin color, or only the people who make me comfortable, or whatever. The best I may be able to hope for with that crowd is nice unison, single-note music. But God is calling for harmony, for my voice linked to voices not like mine. That's beautiful music, and when it is sung the world stops to listen.
