We Are Family: Mark Driscoll, George W. & Me

It's easy for me to get riled up when someone brings up Mark Driscoll. He has a number of views that are quite contrary to my own and his presentation of those views often rubs me the wrong way. (To say the least.) Alas, hashing those through is not my purpose here. I want to look at him as a brother. A child of God. Though he ascribes to a very different brand of Christianity than I do, I want to be able to look at him and love him as a part of the family.

Enter George W. Bush. Copy and paste previous description re: Driscoll. I feel as though Bush and I would see eye to eye on very few things, but I do believe he is a brother as well.

So what do we do when family disagrees so strongly? I think one important factor (as hard as it can be) is to focus on our points of agreement: Jesus as Lord, His death and resurrection, our hope in Him - I feel like those are safe areas to find common ground. However, beyond that, it could get dicey.

So what happens when we disagree as family?

Someone once told me that you can't change how someone else feels or handles a situation, only how you do. And so I can say that for me, Mark and George are brothers in our colourful family and though we view the world quite differently, it doesn't change who our Father is. And because we have the same Father, we have an eternal connection. I don't have to like every view or stance of my brothers, but I will try with all I am to love them and respectfully disagree with certain views that they hold; and, I would like to think they would do the same for me.

Romans 12 is a fantastic chapter. In it, Paul challenges us to "Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone" (v. 18).  I think this is so important within our church family. It is so easy to disagree with one another to the point of causing major rifts in our relationships. Disagreement and conversation can be healthy, but it is important to pull our attention back to the centrality of Christ: his life, death, and resurrection.

Dwelling (brooding?) in our differences can lead to unhealthy exchanges that negatively affect the church and its impact in our world. It can become easy for people to look to us and say, "Look, they can't even get along with their 'family'".  And though sometimes it can feel pretty painful being a part of a family - we can't change who our brothers and sisters are.

I'm not writing this having "arrived" at a place of being able to do this well, but I'm on a journey. I'd love for you to journey with me: who are the siblings that you need to love better?