In short, we like to gang up."
... "And when we make separate categories for the “real sinners,” when we reduce our fellow human beings to theological issues up for constant debate who cannot even be told they are loved without qualifiers, when our (thinking) conveniently renders others the problem and us the heroes, maybe it’s time to sit across a table and get to know one another a little better, to break up some categories and make some new friends. Maybe it’s time to drop our stones for a while and pass the bread.
…healthy, whole grain, organic bread, of course."
The above are snippets from Rachel Held Evans' blog.
She's right. Today's furious condemnation of same-sex marriage often comes from folks who have little to say about the deadly effects of things like materialism ...
... or selfishness
... or anger
... or greed
... or ...So these uppity church leaders came to Jesus bringing a woman who had been unfaithful. They wanted to stone her, and they tried to get Jesus to agree with them. "What do you say?" After drawing on the ground, he finally answered, but what he said wasn't about her adultry. It was about their hearts, and one by one they left, deeply convicted by what he'd helped them see.
It's so easy to think we're the good ones and others are bad when the truth is that there are none righteous. Not one. So now what do we do?