About a month ago, our preacher ended one of his usual fantastic sermons with the admonishment for us all to do some “correcting” in the way we respond and interact with members of the opposing political parties. He said for Democrats to not see the outcome of the recent race as the end of the world, and he told Republicans not to gloat.
There is a man in our congregation with whom I have joked around for years about being a Democrat. Well, after the service, he happened to be blocking the aisle, talking with someone. I asked to get past them, and jokingly said to him that since we had won, I had the right-of-way… or something to that effect.
We both spent the next four hours at a wedding reception. And he didn’t mention a thing the whole time. But, when I got home, I got a phone call. It was a rather cryptic call from my friend, informing me that I had really hurt him, and that he would appreciate me stopping my gloating.
I tried to tell him I don’t do that kind of thing, and that I was merely making light of the “gloating” remark from the pulpit since he and I are always bantering about our party preferences. He basically said I was lying, and that I was making fun of his party losing the election. He then asked me again not to keep hurting him like that. I said “OK”, and he hung up.
I mentioned this incident to the preacher the next week that maybe (in light of what I experienced there) he ought to go easy on bragging from the pulpit that his team, Ohio State, had whupped Michigan. (He likes to do that.) He surprised me by not saying a word about the game.
Well, that got me to thinking about my own attitude.
Then, this was reinforced very recently when my wife and I attended a Live Nativity Scene at a church near us. This church had shunned and shamed a friend of mine about ten years ago because of his felony record. He ended leaving that church over the situation.
To tell you the truth, I was all prepared, in my mind, to lower the boom on this church that night if they “dared” to try and ask any of us visitors to attend their Sunday services. But something happened.
That old friend of mine was there, in costume, participating in their production… and his wife was serving refreshments. You could have knocked me over with a feather!
The next Sunday, at our church, the sermon convicted me, and I ended up finding this Democrat friend, hugging him, and telling him I was sorry. I left it at tat, so we will see how the future works out. But I think I learned that it is more important how my friend feels than how I want to be “right” and “justified.”
Maybe we should feel that way about strangers?