Thursday July 16, 2020
The Rev. Bob Stevens
Give
Hello again. Janie and I feel more and more connected to the St. John community as we share the Sunday worship and start our day with the daily reflections.
I have been challenged by Rob’s recent sermons encouraging us to examine the soil that gives substance to our means of relating to others. Coupled with that is the theme of this week GIVE. There is a definite connection here.
I remember my father telling me that he once won an important point in an argument with his boss and found himself unemployed. How often has my need to be right, to assert my convictions led to the erosion of a relationship? Here we come to the need to give. It would be so helpful if only I could open a window for a connection. Let’s call this GIVE.
Do I mean give in or give up? Not exactly. What I do find is that my need to be right produces a protection of my point of view and prerogatives. This creates barriers and as a consequence there is a lost opportunity for connectedness. The discipline of giving is allowing space in my thinking for “the other” Can I let go of my need to “be right “(give) and move into dialogue which unites?
Our marriage, our relationship with our children, our extended family of friends and not quite friends- all deteriorate when the need to be right prevails. But thanks be to God, they prosper when GIVING interrupts that reflex.