Clergy from left, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired, Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan and Pastor Deb Church. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com
By Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div.
ELCA
Faithful Christians claim to live by the tenets of Jesus, especially as they are outlined in his Sermon on the Mount. This sermon, especially as found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7, clearly expounds on Jesus’ concept of the life of faith. Honest Christians will tell you, though, that it is not always easy to live according to Jesus’ teachings.
For example, here’s Matthew 5:43-45:
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (NRSV)
Despite all of us living in the same sunshine and under the same clouds, we still find we have trouble talking to our neighbor, and even less to an “enemy”.
Along these lines, a pertinent conversation was posted by Historian of American Christianity Diana Butler Bass, in her June 30 edition of The Cottage (on Substack). Bass provides there a link to the June 20th video conversation she had with Tim Shriver, chairperson of the Special Olympics. After 28 years of promoting the dignity of disabled persons, Shriver recently helped to develop “The Dignity Index.” (The reader can find the index online.) The Index contrasts contempt and acknowledging one’s dignity.
Shriver says that we have normalized a culture of contempt in America. He points out how partisan business models, especially as they pertain to social media companies, reinforce contempt, retaliation and “devotional anger”; fear and anxiety are, therefore, monetized. The more spun up we get over social media posts, the more someone in media profits.
Tim Shriver says we can all benefit from engaging in Social and Emotional Learning. When such training is used in schools, adults reflect a kid’s own dignity back to them. By supporting and reinforcing an individual’s dignity, our culture of contempt loses power.
Shriver mentioned Donna Hicks, a writer involved in excruciating negotiations in both South Africa and Ireland. Hicks states that the desire for dignity is universal: a violation of your dignity produces an almost uncontrollable desire for revenge. If you treat people with contempt, if you in any way humiliate them, they will dig in their heels, ending negotiations.
By no longer supporting words of contempt, by addressing one another with dignity, the culture will shift. We can do this by: Listening to the values and principles of the other person; Acknowledging what they know; Finding the values that you share with them. From there you can go on to argue about policies, programs and outcomes.
But first, treat one another with dignity. That tenet is there in what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount.
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org); Pastor Deb Church, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com) and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com).
