by Rev. Dr. Tom Thresher
I am
writing this on Election Day. Our church is packed with people coming
to vote, and there are reports of high voter turnout across the country.
This suggests to me how important this election is in the hearts and minds
of the people of this nation. I do not recall an election that has
been more bitter or divisive; when I speak to folks in their 70's and 80's,
they cannot remember a more hostile election environment. I wonder, as
we look toward Thanksgiving, how can we heal the divisions in our country,
no matter who wins the election?
Scott Peck suggests that there are four stages in the
formation of genuine community: pseudo community, chaos, emptiness,
and true community.
Pseudo community is about being nice and smoothing over
differences. The rules of pseudo community are "don't do or say
anything that offends, annoys, or irritates you, act as if nothing has
happened, and pretend you are not bothered in the least; and if some form of
disagreement should show signs of appearing, change the subject as quickly
and smoothly as possible...."
If, however, we open the door to differences of opinion
and make it safe for individual differences to emerge and be heard, we
typically enter a time that appears quite chaotic. Conflict can arise
as we express our differences. This can be quite uncomfortable, and
there is the danger that leaders will emerge who seek to impose order and
control and lead us back to pseudo community, where conflicts are not
resolved but buried.
There is, however, another road, and that is through
the chaos. Peck calls this state "emptiness." To enter emptiness
is to let loose of our expectations, our preconceptions, our prejudices, our
need to control, our need to impose organization, and our desire to impose
our own theology or ideology on one another. If we are able to enter a
place of emptiness and open ourselves to others, we have the possibility of
emerging into true community. In true community, individual
differences and diversity are not so much a source of conflict as a source
of interest and sharing. In true community, conflict is not avoided
but made a source of vitality.
The question, then, is how do we enter that space of
"emptiness" that allows emergence into true community? This, of
course, is at the heart of much of Jesus' teaching: love your enemies,
turn the other cheek, forgive, take the beam out of your eye before worrying
about the speck in the other's eye, and more.
And much of this can be summarized in the spirit of
Thanksgiving. How can we love our enemies? Give thanks for them.
How can we turn the other cheek? Give thanks for those who hurt us.
How can we forgive? Give thanks.
In giving thanks. we must let loose of our expectations of
how things should be, our preconceptions, and our need for control, and see
another as a person of good will, but with a different view of the world.
Doing this gives rise to tolerance. If we take the next step, and
consider that we might actually have something of value to learn from
someone with an opposing view, we have the possibility of entering true
community with them.
This appears to be our challenge this Thanksgiving season
(maybe that is the wisdom of holding elections at the beginning of
November). No matter who winds, whether we like them or fear them, we
can practice thanksgiving. If we are to heal our nation, we must move
into a time of emptiness, let go of our hurts, our disappointments, and our
arrogance, and give thanks for those who differ from us.
Happy Thanksgiving..... Tom
