“So Far As It Depends On You”
Paul is choosing his words carefully here. He knows that what he’s about to say is going to be a hard-sell.
“If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:18)
It’s a strange statement when compared to the broader passage of scripture from Romans 12. Paul sounds like a preacher who is firing on all cylinders with powerful precision. Listen: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”
There is a cadence to his message for the church in Rome. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” And, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
And then he hits a speed bump.
“If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:18)
Something has thrown Paul off his game. His typically terse, powerful prose has been tripped up by two strangely placed qualifiers. The content of his statement about living harmoniously with others is consistent with his broader message of encouraging a community that is grounded in Christ-like love and deference for one another. In truth, Paul should have simply stated, “Live peaceably with all.”
But he didn’t. Instead, Paul inserts two awkwardly placed statements. Did you catch them? They are: “If it is possible,” and, “So far as it depends on you.”
Why does Paul begin to tiptoe here? Why does he pause and squint before stating his admonition?
Paul wants the church to live in peace. But he knows that will be harder than it sounds.
“If it is possible…”
It is possible to live in peace together, but a community defined by shalom—peace, wholeness-- requires intentionality. Peace doesn’t just happen, and it’s certainly not simply the absence of conflict. Paul was wise to parse his words carefully.
In our context, and in my experience, the element within our churches that has the power to be the most contentious and divisive centers on the work of the church. It is our common work together, side-by-side and hand in hand, that provides the setting for disagreement and conflict. And why should we be surprised? Like any family system, we’re going to see things differently from one another. Furthermore, we’re going to have different solutions to the challenges that we face. Add to that our different personalities, our vastly different life experiences and circumstances, and it’s a surprise that we don’t fuss at one another more often! Much of the conflict that arises out of the work of the church centers on misunderstandings and miscommunications, oversights and mis-dealings. In the sports world, we call these, ‘unforced errors.’
And sometimes, we just flat-out mess up. We forget to show up when we said that we would. We make the wrong recommendation. We say the wrong thing. We fail to provide a quality offering of our time and energy. We miss the mark.
When these inevitable (yes, inevitable, as in, ‘they will happen’ to us all) moments arise, it is imperative that we own up to them, apologize with sincerity to the person most-impacted by our mistake(s), and then trust the mercy they extend to us.
Also, “If it is possible,” means practicing the spiritual discipline of giving one another the benefit of the doubt. This discipline works from the presumption that each of us is working for good. When we trust that, then much of our conflict can be nipped in the bud.
“So far as it depends on you…”
Living peaceably with one another does depend on us. We have a role to play in the health of our community. And the best way for us to contribute to the health and wholeness of our families, our workplaces and our church is to know ourselves. For when we don’t know our gifts, predilections, shadow-sides and ‘favorite’ sins, then we do great damage to the people we love most.
I have found that the Enneagram—an ancient Christian tool to understand both our personalities and our sins—to be an effective tool to help me better understand myself and others. As Richard Rohr has described it, “The Enneagram can help us to purify our self-perception, to become unsparingly honest toward ourselves, and to discern better and better when we are hearing only our inner voices and impressions and are prisoners of our prejudices—and when we are capable of being open to what is new.”
On Sunday afternoon, June 4 at 4:30 PM in our newly renovated chapel, we will be meeting to begin a summer-long journey of self-discovery. I hope you will choose to join us—you simply have to show up to our first meeting to get onboard. We will be offering childcare (please let our office know by Wednesday, May 31). Our initial meeting will be an introduction and orientation to the Enneagram. The following three meetings (on three Sunday afternoons at the same time: June 25, July 9 and August 6) will be a time of further exploration of the nine different types, or personalities, that exist. Ultimately, throughout the course of this summer, we will learn more about ourselves and about others. For when we better understand one another, we can ultimately become more gracious with ourselves and the people around us. Love, for ourselves and for others, is our goal.
“If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
It is possible. And it does depend upon both you and me.
Shalom.
A Note from Linda Stewart
We're off to a great start for a new year in the life of our Church. We have added seven new Deacons to the diaconate and ordained two of them Sunday. We have a new group of team leaders who will be involving other Church members in the work of the Church. The renovations to the Chapel have been completed and the new room has already been put in use. We will be having a dedication of it at a later date. We have welcomed new members to our church family. As we go further in the work of our Church, it is my prayer that each of you will consider what you can do to help serve and ways you can minister to those around you.
Blessings,
Linda Stewart, Deacon Chairperson
Shining Stars
We all have people in our lives who have made a real difference. It's not too late to recognize them through our WMU Shining Stars project. Remember, for each person recognized, include $10, write down their name and put it in the Special Offerings envelope or turn in to the church office by May 31st. (Make checks payable to FBC.) Look for their "star" on the bulletin board outside the choir room. All contributions help fund WMU NC projects. This is a great way to honor someone and to help someone at the same time!
Officers and Veterans Memorial Day Recognition Breakfast and Worship
Officers and Veterans Memorial Day Recognition Breakfast and Worship
In appreciation of your service and dedication to the safety of our community and country, the congregation of First Baptist Church of Sylva invites you to this special event in your honor.
Date: Sunday, May 28, 2017
Time: Breakfast 8:30 AM
Worship 10:30 AM
Place: First Baptist Church of Sylva
Mission and Fellowship Center
669 W Main St. Sylva, NC
RSVP by Wednesday, May 17, 2017 to the church office. Attention, Tia Ashley.
828-586-2095
Graduate Recognition Sunday
We will be recognizing our church's recent high school, college and grad school graduates during worship. If you or your family member is graduating this school year, please contact the church office by Friday, May 26 (by email or phone) with their name, where they went to school, and their degree/field of study (if applicable).
Shining Stars
Recognize the "Shining Stars" in your life -- those people who have played an important role in your Christian walk -- by purchasing a "star" from WMU. The stars cost $10.00 for each person you wish to honor. "Shining Stars" will be displayed on the bulletin board outside the choir room. All monies collected will go to the Heck-Jones Offering for WMU NC to fund a variety of missions projects.
Please participate by placing your money in the Heck-Jones Offering envelope or in the blue "Special Offerings" envelope in the pew rack. Be sure to write on the envelope the name of the person you are honoring. (Checks should be made out to "First Baptist Church".) The envelope can be placed in the offering plate or dropped by the church office between now and May 31st.
NEWS FLASH! Last Sunday, Sandra James informed the congregation that an anonymous donor will match the contributions up to $1000.00. Let's make it happen!
Hannah James Graduation Celebration
Hannah James is graduating from Swain County High School
Please come and celebrate with her on
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Sylva First Baptist Church
Missions & Fellowship Center
Drop In: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Sponsored by WMU Leadership Team
to acknowledge Hannah’s participation and commitment to her Lord through
mission endeavors and involvement in WMU beginning in Mission Friends,
through Girls in Action, and continuing in Youth Missions, and Women on Mission activities on a local and state involvement.
Do the Hard Thing
“Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” –Philippians 2:12-13
"Do the hard thing," Dr. John Stott said to his assistant before he died in 2011. “Do the hard thing.”
As David Brooks, the acclaimed writer and journalist observes, “Dr. Stott believed that choosing the easy trail, the road most taken, and the path of least resistance can only end in mediocrity—even if it comes with praise.”
I’d like to invite you to do something hard. I’d like for you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
I know what you’re thinking because I’ve thought it myself. “Why should we work out our salvation when our salvation in Christ Jesus has already been assured?” We work out our salvation with “fear and trembling” because salvation is more than eternal life. Salvation happens when our lives are converted from who we were to who God wants us to become in this life. Because of God’s love and grace in the person of Jesus Christ, how can we not be willing to change—that is, to be redeemed; to be sanctified?
For long stretches of my life, I have resisted the hard thing. I have chosen the path of least resistance and been content to react to life rather than to do the hard work of self-reflection. In short, I have not wanted to ask the hard questions that might nudge me to grow spiritually. I have been hesitant to consider who I am and what I am here for. I’ve been content to acknowledge my gifts while quick to ignore my gifts’ shadow sides.
Let me try and explain.
When I was 24 years old I naively took a difficult summer internship. I was in my ‘middler’ year—seminary-speak for my second of the three-year master’s program—and decided to spend three months in Winston-Salem serving as a chaplain at Wake Forest’s Baptist Hospital. The program was called Clinical Pastoral Education. The experience was two-fold. One half of my summer was spent serving as a pastor to patients. The other half was spent in one-on-one supervision and group work.
Yea. It was the ‘other half’ that tripped me up. The one-on-one supervision and group work was intended to provide me a greater sense of self-awareness. My supervisor asked me difficult questions about myself—my hopes, my fears, my gifts, my liabilities, my sense of call—and my group challenged me personally, giving me a mirror to see myself through their eyes.
This was hard work. In truth, it’s some of the hardest work I’ve ever done. I was defensive in my group work. I was combative with my supervisor. I did not like how self-discovery felt. And yet, I learned how important it is to go through life with my eyes wide open.
As I discovered, we have been shaped by many forces in the world—genetically, from our family of origin, from our earliest experiences with threats and challenges, from the unique cultural context we were born into… you get the idea. The hard work that I experienced that summer as a seminarian revolved around the task of peeling back these layers to see the person God had created, which happens to be the person God loves and the person God has called me to become.
Discovering who you are is difficult work, and it’s not for the faint of heart. And yet, it is precisely what the Apostle Paul is calling the church at Philippi to do when he says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Jesus implores his disciples to open their eyes. Jesus begs the curious to be born again. Jesus tells us that he came to bring us abundant life. We wake up to God’s work in us when we learn about our gifts and our shadows and the power that they have on us.
So, I’d like for you to do the hard thing and join me on a journey of self-discovery. In the church world we call this ‘spiritual growth.’ Make no mistake; it is hard work. But it is deeply rewarding and fulfilling to have an ‘a-ha!’ moment of epiphany when we see how the building blocks of our lives fit together for the good that God has created in us.
The tool that I would like to use to guide our journey is called the Enneagram. Personally, I have come to this tool rather late. In truth, I wish it had been available when I began my own work years ago. I have found the Enneagram to be a gentle and effective way to see God’s truth and to become more gracious with myself and others. Many Christian traditions have been using the Enneagram in retreat settings and pastoral care for years and years.
The Enneagram is an ancient Christian philosophy that was developed by wise, ascetic believers in the fourth century. The Enneagram, which means nine-sided figure, is represented as a circle. Its purpose is to provide a way for us to better understand ourselves and to recognize the root sin that we retreat to when threatened. As Richard Rohr describes it, “[The Enneagram] is concerned with change and making a turnaround, with what the religious traditions call conversion and repentance. It confronts us with compulsions and laws under which we live—usually without being aware of it—and it aims us to go beyond them, to take steps into the domain of freedom.”
The Enneagram is but one of many tools to help us see the un-seeable in ourselves. But, it is the one that has provided me with the most significant ‘breakthrough’ moments in my spiritual life.
So, I would like to invite you to journey with me in learning about ourselves. We’ll use the Enneagram as a tool for self-discovery, and I will provide the resources and the tools we’ll need to do this important work. I’ve purposely placed this invitation at the end of my article because I suspect some readers didn’t make it this far. And that’s okay. Although I believe Paul’s command for us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling is of critical importance for us all, the timing may not be right for everyone now. Thus, I am not making this compulsory. We will not make this process mandatory in worship, or on a Wednesday night. Instead, I’d like to provide the space to invite you to join me on this journey.
And this is how you can: Tell me you want to come along as a fellow sojourner on this path of self-discovery. Call me at the church and let me know you want to know more (828-226-9308). Text me and tell me that you’re in. Send me an email (fbcsylva@gmail.com) and let me know that you want to learn alongside me. I will then notify you about how a small group will emerge this summer to begin this most important work.
Are you still reading? If so, you may be curious enough to take the next step. Do the hard thing. Learn more about the person God has called you to be.
I’m looking forward to beginning that journey with you this summer.
