Good morning…
As I walked the back roads of rural Pennsylvania, flags were everywhere. Red. White. Blue. Everywhere.
It dawned on me that something new is created as we melt together the distinct colors of these manmade symbols. Red. White. Blue. Blended, these different shades become purple. I began to see purple everywhere. Calming, collaborative, purple everywhere.
Then I read this week’s chapter for our summertime Zoom study, Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living by Rueben P. Job. As we discussed the first chapter, we learned the first rule, “Do no harm.”
“Each of us knows of groups that are locked in conflict, sometimes over profound issues and sometimes over issues that are just plain silly,” writes Job. “But the conflict is real, the division deep, and the consequences can be devastating. If, however, all who are involved can agree to do no harm, the climate in which the conflict is going on is immediately changed. How is it changed? Well, if I am to do no harm, I can no longer gossip about the conflict. I can no longer speak disparagingly about those involved in the conflict. I can no longer manipulate the facts of the conflict. I can no longer diminish those who do not agree with me and must honor each as a child of God. I will guard my lips, my mind and my heart so that my language will not disparage, injure or wound another child of God. I must do no harm, even while I seek a common good.” (p. 24)
A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it… (James 3:3-6, MSG).
Like a horse’s bit, a ship’s rudder, a spark that sets a fire, when we see the color purple, might we silently be reminded? “Do no harm. Seek a common good.”
…Sue…
