stuff i think

progress at what price

It feels like there has always been a sort of span between unity and progress. "Unity at all cost" say some...while the opposite extreme tells us "you've gotta break a few eggs to make omeletes...".

One side would bring all things to a screeching hault, demanding everyone on the same page before anyone turns to the next chapter. This reminds me of the old doctrine of "Liberum Veto"...in Poland in the 1600's, they were so intent on consensus that any one member of the Sejm (the Polish parlementary body) could exercise a veto of any body of legislation. It literally took unilateral agreement on everything to get anything done...and as a result, nothing got done. Poland's enemies leveraged Poland's commitment to unity at any cost and for a time, Poland disappeared from the world map because of it.

The other side of this gap - so committed to the idea of progress - plays hard and fast with the rules of enagement. They accomplish great things and not a soul cheers with them, because they've managed to offend or injure everyone who they felt was standing in their way.

Truth be told (and it will be told...), few of us are staunchly in one of those two camps...we're somewhere on the spectrum in between.

I've been hanging out in Ephesians for a few days...and feeling that if unity is on the left and progress is on the right, I could afford a nudge to the left. Not a Mother-May-I Giant Step and Hop, but a little sheepish shuffle.

Eph 4:3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul doesn't even address the issue of progress here...he just tells us to make every effort to maintain the unity - that we were called to a common hope - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

Every head bowed, every eye closed....so, where are you on the spectrum? Either direction - quick, shuffle while no one's looking. I'll meet you in the middle. Well, close to the middle. I think I need to lean a little further than the point that I'm ready to stand on.

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On an unrelated note, does it strike any of you odd that the button you use to go back and change something you've written on Blogger is labled "re-edit". Is that a word? RE-edit?!?