91Èȱ¬

Good morning. I am part of the Corrymeela Community committed to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Gradually, it has become more diverse, attracting  many people uncomfortable with easy categories of faith, who believe in the call to shared humanity, loving each other and learning to love enemies by faith.There is more agreement about actions that look like the sort of thing Jesus calls us to than about words describing those actions. Some members would not describe themselves as Christian at all. How can such a diverse group be united? We are averse to excluding anyone. 
This question tests our commitment to loving those who do not agree with us. And that became something we seemed unprepared to talk about – an elephant in the room. We could feel it. Some could see it. Others wouldn’t look. They smelt it.. But no one mentioned it.  Then someone else squeezed in. An outsider’s eyes, foreign instincts and that childlike curiosity that comes from learning a new way of being. He spoke to the elephant! Gentle, mysterious, alien words, coaxing and calming, foreign but friendly. He tickled and stroked the elephant. He scratched behind its ears and fed it treats. Then he invited it to stay and help us reach the tops of higher fruit trees so we could share a meal together. 
God, thank you for those who have courage to mention the unmentionable, to name conflicts that are potentially divisive, to see them with eyes unclouded with fear; to embrace the potential that comes with tensions, and to invite those tensions to become the resource which helps us raise our expectations and achieve nobler goals than if we settled for easier compromises. Teach us to feed and welcome the elephant in the room. Amen