An Exercise in Mutual Incomprehension

Upon clearing security at Newark Airport (at 6:00 a.m.), I set my mind toward Holland at last. Not that it hasn’t been there already, what with reading the workbook and all, but now I’m finally on my way. My thoughts run to the mutual incomprehension that often takes place at General Synod. This annual denominational coffee break serves as an opportunity both to attach and to entrench. Attaching to friends and acquaintances I’ve known over the years – that’s the good part. Entrenching in positions concerning matters both “social” and “gospel” – that’s not such a good part. I’ve often come away from synods feeling that we just don’t get one another. And that’s not a matter of East/West/Far West, though the lines do sometimes fall along those geographical and historical realities. I recall the advice of Joyce Brothers about family reunions: better not to spend more than 72 hours together. So, here we are, headed for roughly twice that time. Inevitably we’ll find conflict. Hopefully we’ll find at least a taste of concord. Eendracht? Probably too much to ask for.