The Myth of the Middle?

I was raised in the Wesleyan tradition and one of the things I heard all of my life was to work to find the middle way. We were always encouraged to seek the middle way. We were always looking for a middle way through difficult topics, disagreements, and situations.

I spend a lot of time in the middle. I do interfaith work. That work, by its nature, means I have to set down my way of understanding as absolute truth in order to connect with others around shared experience and shared goals. We won’t agree about all things - not how to worship, who to worship, or what language we do that in. But we can work to make the world a better place, to share meals around Langar (the Sikh common table meal), and to work to understand each other better. 

2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions

The problem right now, in America especially, is that there are some things I really can’t compromise on. When one side calls to kill people that have affiliated with the other political party - I’m not sure how to find a middle ground with that. When a church declares I’m sinful for believing God has called me to the work I do - I’m not sure where to find a middle ground with that. When I spend my days cleaning up the mess that the church leaves behind, throwing away people like the Kleenex they used during their last tangle with COVID - I’m not sure where to find a middle ground with that. 

Jason references this difficulty, “You see, the only way to create change is to believe in the Spirit between us. That, my dear friend, is becoming harder to see. The more we heed the call of a personal savior and personal salvation, the more we come to believe in insiders and outsiders, and the less be believe in a God who co-created it all.”

That common thread of co-creation can be the thing that binds us together.