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The
Lightstand Magazine
1987
• February • Reflections on the way
by Bro. Robin Lamplough
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I
have just spent some days in the company of a tribe of peacocks.
I should at the outset be honest and admit to a prejudice
against these birds. This, like all prejudices, reveals more
about me than about the birds but I find their opulent plumage
ostentatious and their abrupt and screaming cries (especially
in the wee hours) raucous and unsettling. Above all, however,
in the mountains of Natal I find them inappropriate. I have
no doubt at all that in the oriental jungles of their natural
habitat they fit in perfectly, displaying and contributing
to that essential harmony which is characteristic of
God's creation before man has laid his interfering hands upon
it. But in a land of towering crags and grassy hills, of hadeda,
robin and piet-my-vrou, they seem to me to have no proper
place.
SOME DIFFICULTIES This question of appropriateness can sometimes
bring us into difficulties. Wives for example are notoriously
critical of their husbands' choice of suitable clothing. Most
families are occasionally divided over the rejection by parents
of icecream and chocolate sauce as a fitting dish for breakfast
or of rubber beach sandals as footwear for formal occasions.
Ecclesias, too, can experience differences which on a question
of appropriateness, whether related to the painting of
the ecclesial hall or the treatment of visitors at public
lectures. And sometimes these differences can create
serious problems.
Scripture has something to say on the subject. The Wise Man
presents the ludicrous picture of a pig with a ring of gold
in its nose to illustrate the case of the woman who has not
learned to avoid inappropriate behaviour. (Prov. 11.22). The
better known passage in Ecclesiastes (Ch 3.1-15) draws attention
to the importance of choosing the right time for things which
need to be done. And the Apostle's comment that all things
are lawful for him "but all things are not expedient"
(1 Cor. 6.22) suggests that developing a sense of appropriateness
is part of the business of discipleship. Inevitably, however,
because so many different factors are involved, there will
often arise circumstances in which disciples disagree over
what is appropriate at any given time.
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QUICK
TO RECOGNIZE It is then that we must be quick to recognize that
the assessment of appropriateness is a matter of personal judgement
and that in matters of personal judgement differences are inevitable.
So that in all probability what is going to be important is not
the difference itself but the way In which we react to it. We have
to learn particularly to respect one another's judgement even when
we disagree with it. This is where the words of the Apostle Paul
acquire yet another dimension: "In lowliness of mind let each
esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things but every man also on the things of others." (Phil,
chapter 2 verses 3 & 4) And again: "Let us not therefore
judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."
(Romans 14.13)
Applying these words especially when we are convinced that we are
right and the others are wrong, is very difficult indeed. But this
is what we have to learn. In the first place, what we are really
learning to do is live together now so that we may qualify to do
so in the Kingdom age. In the second, the example of our Master
and our remembrance of him each week at the table especially reminds
us that the way of Christ is a way of self-sacrifice. So even if
we are right, the appropriate thing for a disciple to do is to accept
gracefully and humbly something which does not really please him.
The demands of discipleship have introduced, as it were, a higher
level of appropriateness before which the lesser claims give way.
If we could learn this lesson we would be greatly blessed in all
our relationships.
R.L.
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