Wrangling Over Words
A couple of years ago, when I was still in Pontiac doing ministry, I ran into a friend from college. We were both trying to figure out what faithfulness and this whole Christianity thing looked like, back then, and it was good to see that both of us had grown to become more engaged with ministry in different ways. We happened to cross paths at a dinner that a non-profit was hosting and he accidentally left his change of shoes at our church building. It was his idea that maybe he could come on a Sunday morning for bible study and church and grab the shoes he had left while he was there. I was excited to have another meet up and for him to get to experience a Sunday morning at our church. I had warned him that it may be a little different than what he was used to. Our building, at the time, was right smack dab in the middle of downtown Pontiac. We had begun serving breakfast to our homeless brothers and sisters before bible study and had invited anyone to stick around for service. We had some amazing relationships form with many of the people who found their way to our building on a Sunday morning. Relationships that have outlasted my time in Pontiac. We also had some people who would find their way into our building on Sunday morning that may have got an early start on alcohol consumption for the day, some who were understandably angry, and many who suffered from some form of mental illness. So I warned my friend that each Sunday morning was different. To loosely quote Forrest Gump "Our Sunday mornings are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get".
The Sunday he showed up was an interesting one to say the least. We had a few arguments that happened during breakfast, I couldn't possibly remember what about, and he showed up as bible study was beginning. We had some strong readings from scripture and many passionate testimonies of how the text was speaking directly to people's lives. Well, at some point the testimonies and interpretations turned into one-upping and arguments. I don't know how we got there but at one point people were lifting shirts to reveal knife and gun shot scars, arguing about who understood hard living better than the other. This was the point where my friend decided to make his exit. He looked at me, with eyes wide and fearful and said, "This *$%& is crazy, I've got to go". I don't blame him. I mean it was crazy and shouldn't have happened. Add to it, that this was probably as far from his church experience growing up as a person could get. As he left, he said I could just keep his shoes and give them to someone who needed them and he was gone.
What made me think of that story this morning was one of the Lectionary texts for the week.
2 Timothy: 2:14 Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.
2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
What my friend had walked into on that Sunday morning was a wrangling over words. People were arguing over what it really looked like to live a hard life, who could truly identify with the author of a text, who's interpretation carried more credibility. It brought ruin to at least one person who was listening. The good thing is that I am sure that my friend returned to his congregation, probably had an interesting story to tell, and maybe even struggled with what he had seen, but he is still a believer. What scares me about the way that "believers" can wrangle over the words of a text is the way that they have little to no care for the observers of their wrangling. My friend was troubled to the point that he walked away, but he was already a believer. What of those who on any given Sunday morning, built up the courage to walk into a church building for the first time in a long time or maybe the first time ever. What if those brave visitors never come back. I have sat in on many Sunday morning bible studies, elder meetings, and home study groups, where the members argue about interpretations of a text. Move it out to Facebook and Twitter, comment sections of blogs, and reviews of books and you will see people spitting venomous critique of the way that another person has experienced God and reads scripture. We are wrangling over words and I fear bringing ruin to the observer and ourselves.
I think part of the problem with this text from 2 Timothy is in the following verse. We read "rightly explaining the word of truth" and our minds go to the idea that we can somehow hold the "right" understanding. So now our arguments are an attempt to make sure the other person has the right understanding of the word of truth. But the text says "rightly explaining". The challenge is in explaining what we understand to be true in a right or righteous way. Just as the verse says that a wrangling of words can bring ruin, I believe that a righteous sharing of your view of the truth can bring new life. How many times have we heard this, "It's not what you said it's how you said it."? There is a world full of people that consider themselves spiritual and looking for truth. If the church is stuck wrangling over words those seekers certainly aren't going to focus their attention on the church because it wasn't what you said, it was how you said it. Let's be more concerned with righteous telling than right knowing. I think that is the only proper disposition to receive true wisdom from God.