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Christianity Today, December, 2008 |

KINGDOM SIGHTINGS

Family Ties

Sometimes relatives differ, and that's okay.

Al Hsu | posted 12/12/2008 11:00AM

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So this holiday season, put something on your Amazon wish list that you ordinarily wouldn't pick up. Go through a four-views book, and give each perspective a charitable reading. Don't just subscribe to CT; read The Christian Century as well. Or Sojourners, World, or Relevant.

Better yet, begin a face-to-face friendship with someone who thinks differently from you. Have lunch with a friend from a different church or theological tradition or who voted for the other presidential candidate. Instead of only advocating for your point of view, focus on understanding theirs.

I've been sharpened by friends who are more conservative than me and by those more liberal than me. They stretch me and challenge me in different ways, and I am better for it.

Most of the time we live out our immediate family's traits and traditions, and that's fine. But sometimes it is good for us to hang out with the in-laws or extended relatives and swap stories. And we shouldn't be too surprised if we learn something from other members of the body of Christ. After all, we're family.

Al Hsu is an associate editor at InterVarsityPress. He is the author of several books, most recently The Suburban Christian and blogs at TheSuburbanChristian.blogspot.com.

Related Elsewhere:

Surprised by Disability | Why the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensible. (September 30, 2008)

Olympic Snapshot | Imagine swords turned into plowshares, and soldiers into soccer players. (August, 8, 2008)

Grace and Peace | How a simple salutation points us toward a new society. (June 18, 2008)

A Multifaceted Gospel | Why evangelicals shouldn't be threatened by new tellings of the Good News. (April 10, 2008)

The Vision Thing | Clarity came just as things got blurry. (February 21, 2008)

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December 2008, Vol. 52, No. 12

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Phil Tarman

Posted: December 12, 2008 8:48 PM

Al, I want to thank you, too. As a relatively liberal pastor in relatively conservative congregations, I have learned much from those to my theological right. I hope that some of them have learned something from me. I am convinced that by listening *to* each other, we can all learn. The Jesus of Scripture has been my guide in listening to people I don't always agree with and finding in them persons who have, in spite of our differences of opinion, something of God's love and grace in their lives.

marianne Miller

Posted: December 12, 2008 5:35 PM

Thanks, Al for challenging us to think outside of our theological boxes. The majority of divisions that I have witnessed between Christians seemed to have fallen into the very area that Hsu discusses, that is, the 'black and white' thinking that makes us believe that we more different than we really are. The Nicene creed, which I recently rediscovered, is truly a tried and true touchstone to which we Christians can comfortably refer in times of confusion. I am glad to see the author refer to this historical and significant dogmatic statement. When we stand firm on the rock of truth, maybe we won't feel so threatened about considering different views.

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