Eliminate or Embrace?

There continues to be tension in the world, the Church, families and people’s lives. People are upset, uptight and, too often, up in arms.

From some conversations this past week it occurs to me that to relieve tension we should actually embrace tension. Embracing rather than eliminating tension will bring relief from it. Follow along.

For instance, there was still another conversation about how to worship. Should we use the historic liturgy (a rather fluid concept anyway) or should we use contemporary worship (actually this is about as fluid of a concept as the former)? Historic liturgy or contemporary worship? Tension builds. Which is it?

Or this one. A friend of mine gave a great presentation this week in which he encouraged among other things that we focus and meditate on just one verse of the Bible, maybe not even a whole verse, and live with it for a whole week. I’m partial to reading through the entire Bible every year; it has been a mainstay in our congregation’s life. Meditate on just one (partial) verse or read through the whole (even those lists of names) Bible? Tension builds. Which is it?

You can add this one. Family time or work time? What does it mean to be devoted to your family? What does it mean to be diligent at work? Interestingly, that word derives from the word for “to delight”. Work or family? Tension builds. Which is it?

And of course there is this one. What does it mean for the Church to be in the world but not of the world? Some especially accent the separateness of Christians. We better get off and away, gather together and keep us and ours safe from the world. Others especially accent Christian’s engagement in the world. We gotta get out there, connect up, develop relationships, hit the coffee shops and brew pubs. Separate or engage? Tension builds. Which is it?

This is just from my little corner of the world. There are all kinds of topics like this: “race” relations, the environment, economics, immigration. We spin them all as either/or propositions, this way or that way, and the tension builds. It builds in our families, congregations, community and the nation. Too often the tension gives way to anger, fighting, break-ups and out-breaks. “My way or the highway” has left lots of us on the road by ourselves. We solve the tension by invoking the wrongness of the other, declaring victory and moving on.

Instead of fighting the tension or solving the tension, let’s embrace it. Far more things in life are on a continuum than are not. Many, many things are a “both/and” not an “either/or.” Yes, there are times that you need to draw a line in the sand and not budge, but those times may not be as frequent as we think.

You may have heard about “the genius of the AND”. You go with and embrace the tension rather than solve it or remove it. This AND that; not this OR that. Remember, it is the tension strung out across guitars, violins and pianos that makes for music. Skilled and thoughtful musicians use that tension, they embrace it, and music is born. Those same instruments absent the tension are absent music.

I know, this is nothing new. Many have written similar sentiments about embracing rather than eliminating tension. No new ground has been plowed in this post. But this week with the things I have heard and listened to it seemed significant to state it… again.

Where might we be in our homes, congregations, communities and nation if we sought ways to embrace tension rather than always try to eliminate it? Can we skillfully and thoughtfully come together in our areas of tension and make music?

It will be a love song.

We could use more love songs these days.