…El Paso…Dayton…next….
It has been argued that people don’t “practice what they preach.” This is in so many regards a wrong statement. The reality is we ARE practicing what we preach. And this vitriolic argument that defends laws and perspectives while there is so much death. Is it a semi-automatic weapon or is it not? What did the founding fathers mean when they wrote the amendment? Isn’t it really the Democrats fault? Should people speak our language? Should they go back to where they came from? “I could stand In the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters.“ This is what we are. A people practicing what we preach.
Perhaps in the past, we could’ve said the opposite—that we do not practice what we preached. Our history is full of words that return void or dreadfully counter to what’d been said. But now, the void is filled. Now they are not counter.
There are divisive messages from leaders that produce divisive result. There are benign messages from pulpits that produce benign result. Preaching is practiced.
Who are your “preachers?” We must be mindful of the words we take in and the words (or worse) that we submit into the world as a result. Do we challenge those voices that speak into us? Do we educate ourselves from voices that are different than ours? Do we recognize the return from our own voice?
I am grieved. God help us.