Br Alex Swain

The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company…”
—Acts 15:39a

Beloved in Christ,

Interpersonal communication is hard, especially when it’s with people we love. With friends, at least in my experience, it can be easier to let things slide, and easier to reconcile arguments, than with family or with people who we deeply love.

People we love seem to affect our anger and emotions in different ways. Perhaps, in part, because our identity is wrapped up in them—their proximity to the core of who we are, and how we are, can sometimes be a an attack on our identity, on who we are to ourselves.

Conflict in the Church can be like this, too.

Within Church communities, we may find ourselves in arguments, in standstills, in awkward positions.

The bad news is this will happen, inevitably, because it’s humans interacting with humans.

The good news is this is nothing new, and it has happened since the beginning.

The Church has been, since its inception to the present day, a mixture of the holy and divine muddled with the fallen and sinful.

We see, in the example of Paul and Mark, a serious argument. The pair parts ways. But they do not stop their work. They, even if temporarily, go apart yet continue in the shared goal: the spreading of the Gospel, checking in on the communities they have worked with, continuing to seek and serve God despite their disagreements.

Church life is community life—which, because we are all human, entails conflict and problems.

And, at the same time, we can be reminded through the example of Paul and Mark that, even when we have disagreements, we remain united in the desire to bear witness to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Are there people in your life right now who you might be in conflict with? Are there people in your life to whom you may be a witness to the saving power of the Gospel?

The beauty of the Christian faith is that we are not called to perfection in any aspect of our life—be it family, friends, work, the list goes on—we are called to witness and respond to God, imperfect as we are.

The disciples weren’t perfect and argued. We aren’t perfect and argue.

Yet, God loves us and calls us to serve a hurting world, however we can.

Amen!

—Br Alex