Circles and Slogans

He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But Love and I had the will to win
We drew a circle and drew him in.

The poem is "Outwitted," written by Edwin Markham. It's a clever and appealing thought: when someone excludes you through spite, respond with love and find a way to include them. In other words, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31.

The popular girls block your bid for the cheerleading squad, so you organize a Pep Club and invite them to join. The stuck-up sopranos won't speak to you at choir rehearsal, so you bring donuts on Sunday morning and serve them first. As my Mom used to say, "Kill them with kindness."

Sounds good so far. Would the principle work with bullies? How would you embrace the kid who takes your lunch money? Offer cupcakes as well? Would the bully be shamed into repentance? Or would you end up with two black eyes, no lunch money and no cupcakes?

How should a teacher draw a circle large enough to include those who consider science education a threat to their faith? Or consider the battered wife. How many times can she "turn the other cheek" before she's dead?

We do a great disservice to the gospel when we reduce it to a sound-bite applied blindly to every situation, even if that sound-bite is The Golden Rule. Worse, we risk blaming the victims of injustice, violence and oppression by laying the burden of sin on them instead of naming the oppressor as the souce of the sin. It is easy to scold the victim for not sharing with the bully, to tell the slave to be more meek, to tell the abused woman to be more submissive. It takes courage to discipline the mean kid, to end the slave trade, to demand justice for every human being.

In a previous blog I wrote about tolerance, ending with the quip, "We will not tolerate intolerance." As Presbyterians, clergy, and clergy spouses, we're all in a good position to say, "The gospel is tough. Don't reduce it to a slogan."




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