Greetings!

There’s a lot of conflict in our national political landscape these days. It makes it hard to listen to news on the radio. It can make it hard to have a conversation with co-workers or relatives. You hardly need me to describe the breakdown in public dialogue that has taken place all around us.

I have had the chance to talk to some of you about how you feel about these things. I’ve even heard from some of you about the doubts you’ve encountered – about whether we really should be bringing up so many hard topics as a community. You’ve asked me whether we should really take strong stands on divisive topics, when we run the risk of offending good and dedicated members and friends. These are all important questions to raise, and ones that should cause us all to stop and reflect on what our Christian calling is when it comes to controversial conversations.

The scriptures we’ve been reading this month from James – I believe they were written to a community struggling with hard conversations as well. There’s real guidance in these scriptures about how we should enter into hard conversations. Join us in worship as we consider James’ wisdom for our own hard questions.

Peace,

Hardy

Theme for Sunday

The folks of Corrymeela have long believed that human encounter between people who believe and think different things can have a transformative effect. Transformative because it is more courageous to have an argument with a person in a room than never entering that room in the first place. Transformative because…to lighten the shadow of our land, we must all speak of our own shadows.

--Padraig O’Tuama, Leader of the Corrymeela Community