The Opportunity of Disagreement

What do you do when your pastor ticks you off? Or your church? It happens! In fact, it seems to be a maxim that nobody can tick us off quite as much as people we love. If your car mechanic makes you angry, you can just get a new one. If it’s your mom or your kid or your spouse . . . or your sister or brother in Christ, you don’t have that option. The closeness of the relationship means that you are going to really see red for a while.

In preaching on your topics this summer, I did make a few people angry. While difficult, I think that is probably healthy. People wouldn’t get angry if they didn’t care – about the people and about the issues. Our passion for our faith and discipleship is going to engender some strong feelings. I’m probably not doing my job as a preacher if I don’t say enough difficult things that I make everyone angry at some time.

I try hard to preach the gospel. I know that the pulpit is not a place for me to stand and say what Ken Page thinks, but rather to seek to preach the Word of God. At the same time, preaching is a human task. Some of me seeps in, just as some of you seeps in as you listen. Hopefully there are moments of grace when the humanity of each of us meets the Word of God.

While I believe I preach the gospel, not every word I say is gospel truth. Some of it is me trying to share my personal struggle with applying the gospel to my life. Feel free to disagree! Perhaps the application to your life is different. Perhaps you needed to hear a different part of the gospel that morning. Perhaps I’m just wrong!

I promise to work hard to deal with conflict as with someone I love. If you have a disagreement with me, that hasn’t faded with ten deep breaths or a day to think and pray, please let me know. I know we are a diverse group. All of you have experiences and perspectives from which I can learn. Part of being The Church is that we will have full agreement on very little other than the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Every disagreement is an opportunity for us to grow in love and discipleship.

Matthew 5:23-24
23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.