Are We Brave Enough to Tell the Truth?
One of our members speaks of the Bible as the diary of a certain people.
I appreciate that insight. It helps us move beyond literalism and the horrible stuff that literalism brings. As I was struggling with the first reading from Ezekiel, I noted that the Jews were willing to admit that their people blew it. Ezekiel seems to be preoccupied with his nation's sinfulness. And while that message can get tiring, it strikes me that the writers of the Bible like Ezekiel are willing to admit their people's foibles. I wonder how much our nation would benefit from that insight. As we tell our stories, write our diaries, can we bold enough to tell the truth? We have blown it too many times. Slavery, Vietnam, the treatment of the Japanese, the communist scare, the Iraq war, and now it seems, the Iran war--these all represent the sin of our nation. Can we like Ezekiel be bold enough to tell the truth about that sin as we recall our corporate history?