I am reading Adam Hamilton's book,
Seeing Gray In A World Of Black And White.
Adam is pastor of The United Methodist Church Of The Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.
What draws me to Adam and this book are his personal beliefs and history as a Christ follower.
His perspective is refreshing... because of his broad upbringing in his faith walk.
As a fourteen year old Adam found himself at a Pentecostal church and invited Jesus Christ to be his Savior.
He went on to Oral Roberts University, one of the most conservative Christian colleges in the nation.
He says he loved the passions and fundamental truths he learned at these two institutions.
He also was concerned for justice and the poor and felt called to John Wesley and the Methodist Movement and ended up in grad school at SMU, a more liberal University (his words).
This combination knit together the solid beliefs he shares today.
He allows himself the benefit of being called both a liberal and conservative.
He suggests we can communicate respectively with one another, as Christ followers, no matter our political, moral and religious views.
A way that might be more pleasing to the God we say we follow.
"Looking for the good in those with whom you disagree, expressing enough humility to admit that you may be wrong, and seeking to remove the log from your own eye before removing the splinter from your neighbor's eye - these are characteristics of Christ followers. And it is in remembering and practicing these scriptures that Christians will stop being the wedge that divides our nation, and start acting instead as bridge builders and peacemakers that bring an end to the culture wars."
Adam Hamilton - Seeing Gray
We have forgotten the saying our mamas taught us...
"If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything."
I hope I am not a wedge to someone, but instead a bridge that might help them across.
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