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Last night, I joined with others from The Downtown Church to watch the Leadership Institute online from The Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. This three-day conference is a way of inspiring and encouraging church leadership in our work to bring the love of Jesus Christ to the world. Adam Hamilton, the senior pastor of COR, spoke about the danger of being so sure of a belief or attitude that one is unable to listen to another person. As Hamilton spoke, I thought about the word entrenchment. To me that is being so firmly dug into a position that you become stuck there, unable to move. I think about the trench warfare of World War I, where the soldiers were pinned down and it was only by getting out of the trenches that they could advance forward. Staying there was not an option.
And I wonder as I write this how entrenched I have become over my life. At the age I am, it would be so much easier to only surround myself with others who hold the same beliefs, the same opinions, the same attitudes as I do. It is simpler to stay put and dig in. Yet, the words of Jesus resonate with me from Matthew 4:19: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
We cannot fish in a trench. So let me share these questions that are rattling around in my mind this morning: How are we being called to move beyond the safety of the trench to engage with others? What opportunities are we missing as followers of Jesus Christ by hunkering down ignoring those with whom we might disagree? If we take seriously the gift we have been given to participate with the Holy Spirit in growing the kingdom of God, we have to get up and out of the holes we have dug for ourselves and move forward.
Blessings,
Lori
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