Laughing and Learning
How do you score on a “patience meter”? What’s your comfort level of acceptance? Have you found yourself trapped in an exceptionally awkward conversation or situation, desperately wishing for a means of escape? With any luck, you can usually find some way of extricating yourself, but it can be tricky, and there are times when there’s no choice but to grin and bear it.
But what do you do if you continually butt heads with someone who lives in your house? Those of us who watched television in the 1970’s saw how it worked (or more accurately, didn’t work) in the TV sitcom “All in the Family” and its featured character, Archie Bunker. Archie was as opinionated, stubborn, prejudiced, and contrary as a human could be. He considered his opinions to be factual and unarguable, and his wife, Edith and daughter, Gloria, just let him bluster away. But then Gloria got married, and since her husband, Mike, was a college student, and Gloria was working, they saved on rent by moving in with Archie and Edith.
From Day One, Archie and Mike were at odds. The liberal, idealistic college student and the stuck-in-his ways blue collar working guy went head to head on every subject you could imagine. And the language! Every derogatory name we’d ever heard (and some we hadn’t) came spewing out when Archie referred to other ethnicities, races, religions, or minority groups. He had no filter, no tact, hadn’t a clue in the world what “politically correct” was, and if he had, it wouldn’t have made any difference to him. Neither Archie nor Mike ever truly “won” an argument, but controversial and uncomfortable subjects ended up being debated, and through our laughter, many of us had to think a little (or a lot) more honestly about our own attitudes.
Through the lens of humor, stale, hurtful old prejudices and stereotypes were viewed mercilessly, and who knows how many opinions were reexamined and reconsidered. Any time our hearts and minds are opened, even by way of a television show featuring a crude, bullheaded character, it’s an opportunity to grow and learn.
In looking for biblical references concerning patience, understanding, and listening, I found that several of Paul’s letters to the early Christian churches explained that the faith was not exclusive to Jews, but that all people were children of God. He told them that Jesus had come to earth to bring the message of God’s love and forgiveness for all people. These Jewish Christians had to let go of their pride in being God’s chosen people, a complete turnaround from the identity held by generations, and then not only accept but reach out to those previously considered undesirable.
It’s so easy to slip into the mindset of considering ourselves to be God’s very special people, and we are – but so is everyone else! We are called to find ways to bring the message of God’s love for all and the forgiveness and eternal life to those who haven’t heard the Good News. So we reach out, we share, we listen, and the power of the Holy Spirit will do the rest.
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers