{"id":378,"date":"2017-02-01T20:23:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T20:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/messenger\/?p=378"},"modified":"2018-09-19T20:25:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T20:25:28","slug":"a-matter-of-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/potluck\/a-matter-of-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"A matter of perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the memoir book\u00a0Life Work,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0author Don Hall tells a story about a New England man who every year heads to the market with an ox-drawn cart filled with all of the extra things his family has produced during the year\u2014maple sugar, wool, potatoes, and the like. When he gets there, he sells not only all the products but also the cart. And the ox.<\/p>\n

He goes home with the money he\u2019s made, buys a new ox, builds a new cart, and starts all over again. Hall calls it \u201chuman life compared to a perennial plant that dies to rise again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall says some people love the story because it exemplifies sinking your whole self into what you do and illustrates the cycle of life. You do something well, and then you start over with a clean slate. Other people, he says, think the story is rather discouraging. Why on earth does the man go back and do everything over again? It\u2019s a circle. He never gets ahead.<\/p>\n

Then Hall says: \u201cTemperament, temperament. Each human division reads the same story; each responds from an opposite place.\u201d<\/p>\n

That passage resonated with me as I thought about recent events\u2014a bitter election with sharply drawn lines, worldwide concerns about whom to believe and whom to trust, and a church that seems to be deeply divided even as people on all sides try to authentically live out their faith.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing the same stories play out. We\u2019re responding very differently. Age, race, gender, economics, geography, education, religion, experience, and any number of other things are all potential fault lines.<\/p>\n

It has always been so, to varying degrees. Recently I visited a Brethren congregation celebrating its 150th anniversary year, and they read some minutes from a late 19th-century congregational meeting. At issue was whether the then young congregation should get a piano. It seems innocuous enough now, and some members were very much in favor of it. Others, however, did not want the church \u201cgoing the way of the honky-tonk devil,\u201d according to the minutes.<\/p>\n

In something of a paradox, our globe has grown increasingly interconnected and woven together, yet we have more and more difficulty finding a common narrative. The multiplicity of news outlets (and \u201cnews\u201d outlets) allows us to very narrowly tailor our world while excluding any other viewpoints.<\/p>\n

One friend, in the week after the election, posted on Facebook this cultural observation that stuck with me: \u201cWe just snapped a high-res, HD, no-filter selfie.\u201d Many of us may look around at the surrounding landscape and not like what we see. And certainly the background in one person\u2019s \u201csnapshot\u201d can look very different from another\u2019s. But we are all part of the story.<\/p>\n

Back in October I had the chance to be part of The Gathering, an annual event that Western Plains District has been holding for a dozen years as part of its district transformation initiative. People from across the district come together in beautiful Salina, Kansas, for a weekend at a conference center just off I-70. It\u2019s like a district conference without the business sessions. They come together simply to worship, to learn, to eat (of course), to sing, to enjoy each other\u2019s company, and to share stories.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to the event three times now, and I always come away impressed\u2014and refreshed. I\u2019m sure that Western Plains still has its issues, but a good spirit permeates that event from start to finish, year to year. They have found a different way of relating to one another as Christians, as Brethren, as neighbors. It seems at least some of the transformation they seek has come to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me,\u201d says Ken Frantz, chair of the district\u2019s Transformation Vision Team, \u201cit is always a place to touch base given our broad geography and the distances between churches. I think most would agree that it allows us to be family in the way that our camps also allow\u2014a sanctuary of sorts and a time of renewal for many.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Gathering focused on the theme \u201cYou Are Loved.\u201d The brochure said, \u201cGather with us for a transforming experience for you personally and for your congregation. How shall we \u2018Pass on\u2019 the Love of God today?\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps there are ways we can do more of that type of connecting around our denomination. It brings to life Jesus\u2019 perennial command to love God and love our neighbors. It creates and deepens relationships. And who couldn\u2019t use a bit more transformation?<\/p>\n

We will never see eye to eye on everything. Perhaps, though, we can do less \u201ceye for an eye.\u201d And maybe take a breath, start fresh, and begin writing a new story\u2014together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a divided world, how can we begin writing a new story?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50,78],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-potluck","tag-potluck","tag-walt-wiltschek"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}