I felt the need to highlight something that is to the left of the words you are reading now.
Don’t respond to caricature- the Left, the Right, the Progressives, the Reactionary. Don’t take people on rumor. Find the light in them, because that will further your cause. -Bono
For better or worse, Bono has a huge influence on the way I see the world. Since moving to this city and taking my first ministry position I have had to learn the lesson of this quote the hard way. See, for the first 2 years I was here I was a Reactionary. The Right would acuse me of perverting the Gospel and the Left would encourage me to go further, running roughshod over anybody who stood in my way. To both groups I reacted. I would lose a night’s sleep over whether or not the song we were going to sing in chapel might cause someone to clap. I backed off of my ministry. I started to distance myself from everyone. My reaction was wrong. Dead wrong.
That is why I live with this quote everyday. Rumors abound, feelings get hurt, sacred cows get eaten- that’s life. It is my job as a minister of Jesus Christ to find the light.
Sure, some may shoot arrows. Some my scream and shout. Often the Left and the Right are two sides of the same coin. They may not admit it, but it is a truth.
Let’s further the cause.
Dude,
I do not envy the position you and countless other ministers find yourselves in when issues like this arise. But good job in realizing the bigger issue. Those who get tied up in the trivial – whether or not people will clap during a song, or feel the need to stand during a song, or lift their hands – just don’t get it. And I know I’m stepping on the toes of some well-scholared people, much moreso than I, with that statement. But God won’t be asking us “How many people did you please?” He’ll want to know who we helped come to Him.