Resolving Conflict for the Sake of Mission

Devotional Reflection, Monday, September 12, 2022

Proper 19, the week of the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

37Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. 39The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 985)

AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65

Job 40:1-24; Acts 15:36-16:5; John 11:55-12:8

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart. (See below.)

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Office Epistle, Acts 15:36-16:5

36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, `Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.' 37Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. 39The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

16:1Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. 2He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. 3Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in

Jerusalem. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

David's Reflections

Conflict--someone once observed that in any conflict there are two sets of issues, what that person called the ping-pong ball and bowling ball issues. If you keep your eyes only on the surface issues about which you are in conflict—the ping pong balls going back and forth—the bowling balls rolling under the table—the real issues—will break your ankles.

Our church conflicts at the ping-pong ball level can be about prayer books, women's ordination, the place of homosexuals in the church and in the ministry. Could there be deeper bowling ball issues—how one reads Holy Scripture, who's in charge, who likes whom, who has done what to whom in the past—that keep rolling under the table and breaking our church community and personal ankles?

In the Acts account in today’s reading, Paul and Barnabas, friends and coworkers, find themselves in a sharp disagreement about taking John Mark on a second missionary circuit. The reason for Paul's unwillingness is stated to be John Mark's premature return from the previous journey. Could it be that this really is a ping-pong ball issue and that the deeper bowling ball issues could have had to do with personalities--who was in charge, or the missionary agenda itself?

The vision statement of the church where I served as start up priest, All Souls, Mechanicsville, VA, says with reference to conflict that we will be "valuing and honoring difference and conflict as ways to stronger community and to greater intimacy and unity in Christ." Those are high ideals and tough realties into which to live, but passages like this in Acts certainly call on us to normalize conflict, not be surprised when it happens, and to seek resolution to avoid entrenched and divisive differences.

We experience a Christian community in a precious window of time. We are together for all too brief a moment in the ongoing journey of our lives. Those crucial and fragile bonds of mutual affection and the unity the Spirit of God generates over mission and vision must be guarded and nourished through the inevitable moments of disagreement and disappointment in one another. Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 5; 18), Paul’s example (Gal. 2:11-20) and teaching (Gal. 6:1-8), and passages like this one normalize conflict and give us precedents for responding creatively to difference in community. We can go beyond merely tolerating difference to treasuring it and seeking to learn from each other’s perspectives.

Collect of the Day, Proper 19, the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 233)

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York (died 12 Sep 1830 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/JHHobart.htm

Collect of the Feast of John Henry Hobart

Revive your Church, Lord God of hosts, whenever it falls into complacency and sloth, by raising up devoted leaders like your servant John Henry Hobart; and grant that their faith and vigor of mind may awaken your people to your message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)

Of the Holy Spirit

Almighty and most merciful God, grant that by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit we may be enlightened and strengthened for your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 251)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100, 257)