Thought for the week: Dear Friends, Over the last few weeks, as my last act as Moderator of the eGoli Presbytery, I have had to deal with a very sensitive and unfortunate matter of one Minister raising a formal complaint against the doctrine and teaching of another Minister. The allegations were of such a nature that, if true, would probably have led to the Minister in question being removed as a Minister of our Church. The details are not important, but the conclusion of the matter is that there was no substance to the allegations and so no action had to be taken against the accused Minister. Questions have been raised about the motives of the Minister who made the accusations and that if he had taken the opportunities afforded him to meet with the Minister whose teaching was in question and discuss the issues, the whole ugly affair could have been avoided. Anyway, the lesson is a simple one. Talk and discuss before accusing and judging. Speaking of judging, I was very tempted to write something about the Oscar Pistorius judgement, but thought it best left alone – with such divided opinions and feelings on the matter :). Back to the point of talking first and acting second! Reading the Gospels you will pick up a number of references to Jesus engaging with people, such as the outcast Samaritan woman at the well, or the wealthy and corrupt tax collector, Zacchaeus, or the Roman Centurion (part of the oppressive occupying force in Jesus’ day). He would often have meals in people’s homes, talking and listening. All these conversations, not judgements or assumptions on Jesus’ part, led to changed hearts and lives. I know that in the heat of a moment it is easy to judge and come to conclusions on a matter or about a person, like the above Minister who did the accusing, on which we act only to discover, at a later date, that we were perhaps premature in our ‘verdict’. And then, if we are stubborn and allow our pride to rule, we do not apologise. So the thought I leave you with today is simply this – talk and listen and talk some more before you make your determination about the character and actions of others. Lots of love, Chris
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:12:18 +0000
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