Competing Stories

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
This day
This day
We ask for peace Lord
For wholeness
For repairs and mending.
We ask for joy
And full hearts
And songs
And dancing
We ask for hope
And relief
And fresh starts
We ask for
Confidence
And trust
And patience

Mostly Lord
Mostly
We ask for you
Your love
Your care
Your gentle hand
Your reassuring presence
Mostly you
And that will be enough
More than enough
Thank you
Amen

Morning Talk: Jim Calhoun

Romans 14
• A deep story describes a collective, emotionally rooted narrative that individuals and groups use to make sense of their lives and the world, prioritizing feelings and metaphors over cold facts or moral judgments.
• The concept was developed by Arlie Russell Hochschild, a sociologist and we will talk about her more in a bit.
• Today we will be considering how competing “deep stories” lead to conflict and how we can, in our spheres of influence contribute to understanding, healing and hope.
• First we will look at competing deep stories in the New Testament, then we will look at how some deep stories are impacting the Church and society today.

About 15 years after Jesus there was a Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) to work out the issues arising from two competing deep stories.

Many things had led up to the formation of two competing deep stories:
One story was God Loves the Jews so if you want to really be loved by God you must become a Jew.
• The call of Abraham
• The Law
• The prophets

The other story was God Loves All People and has always from the foundations of time
• Jesus engaging Gentiles (in the Gospels)
• Acts 2
• Philip goes to Samaria (Acts 8)
• Peter’s vision and the Holy Spirit comes to the Gentiles (Acts 10)
• Paul commissioned as a missionary to the Gentiles (Acts 13)

These two stories created a great deal of tension within the young church
• Differing conceptions of how the church should operate.
• Circumcision
• Dietary laws
• Food offered to idols
• Day of worship
• Recriminations
• Name calling
• Private and public arguments
• And then, after much discussion, a working plan to resolve differences and find a way to work together.
• And still, after all of this, there were some who stuck with their original position held even tighter working to undermine the agreement

Paul’s practical way of moving forward (Romans 14)
• In his letter to the Romans , Paul is attempting to articulate the contours of an authentic faith.
• It is complicated, nuanced, and heavy
• Then, in chapter 12 he moves to the pastoral section.
• “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” Romans 12:1-2
– his instructions:
• Go all in
• Renew your mind
• Become discerning

Now let’s turn to Roman’s 14

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” Romans 14:1-4
– Issues that he goes over include:
• People are different
• Welcome them
• Do not quarrel over opinions
• Eating food offered to idols
• Do not judge others
• “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?”
• Fighting about these issues will slow their (and our) spiritual growth
• Allows for freedom of conscience, even if they are mistaken
• But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith

Deep stories today
• In our country we have two primary deep stories that are competing
• These stories are the basis for the so called culture wars
• They differ on what the American dream is
• They differ about who ought to participate in the American dream and why

The story of cutting in line
The story of the public square
The story of being nobody

Conflict from competing stories
• Frustration and loss of hope
• Disengaging
• Coveting
• Blaming
• Shaming
• Conspiracy theories
• Scapegoating
• Violence

Moving from political to spiritual
• I think this is the most difficult section
• Governance is important
• Governance can increase suffering and governance can ease suffering
• Governance can save lives and governance can waste lives
And we will do well to talk about it at length and in depth!

The illusion of politics is that it is the whole game
• Politics is a limited game
• Our power in the game is limited
• Aspects of politics are corrupting and personally compromising (“works of the flesh”)
• Jesus reminds us to give to Caesar and to give to God
• Paul reminds us that the Fruit of the Spirit isn’t contained by governance. That it can’t be negated.
• Politics cannot make a person whole
• Politics cannot cure the soul
• Our desire, our prayer:
• Your kingdom come
• Your will be done

The opportunity of Contemplative practice
• Our contemplative practices help us here.
• We continue that ongoing dialog listening to God’s voice in silent prayer and in the scriptures
• We practice loving our neighbor in community like in Lectio Divina
• The more connected to God, the less reactive we become to the drama of power and politics

Our deep story begins to change.
• God is caring for us
• We grow into a better understanding of what is Caesar’s and what is God’s
• We grow in our ability to discern our role and our path.
• We have a better understanding of what God is asking of us specifically
• We become more assured that All shall be well

Neighboring
• Acknowledge the other position
• Withhold judging
• Stop shaming
• Address the concerns of your conflict partner
• Expand your circle and experience (Robert Putnam)
• Instead of arguing about opinions, do something positive

Peacemaking
• It is good work
• It is deeply needed
• It is very difficult to do
Blessed are the peacemakers Jesus said for they shall be called the children of God (Mt. 5:9)
• Meaning we share God’s heart for this world