[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during April 2023]
Do you ever make assumptions about what other people are thinking, only to find out that you have misread the situation? Such assumptions can hinder communications and jeopardise relationships. Words, and particularly labels, can cause us to jump to conclusions that may not be entirely accurate.
Sometimes it seems that the people around us are talking a different language. (In my case they often are) How do you know if what you think you heard is actually what they think they said?
Different places can have different laws, regulations or practices, some of which may come as a surprise to us. It is said, for example, that in the Royal Crescent in Bath there is only one permitted colour for the front doors of the houses – they are either white or wrong. In other places there may be no such stipulation; other colours are not wrong, only different.
Different Christians have different practices, and sometimes we wonder on what they are based. Small differences in understanding coupled with established expectations can result in significant disagreements, especially when a certain degree of personal ambition is added. Are we ever guilty of assuming that the way we think is the only right way?
One such difference arose in the 11th century and resulted in what is called ‘The Great Schism’, when church leaders in Rome and Constantinople could not agree on who had the greater claim to a direct apostolic succession. The outcome was that two ecclesiastical bodies, each purporting to represent the Body of Christ, moved in different directions.
I am writing this on Easter Sunday, but not the Easter Sunday that most of my readers would recognise. Rather it is the Orthodox Easter, celebrated by millions of believers in eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
In both east and west, the dates for Easter are calculated using the same formula.[1] Easter is the Sunday following the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox. The pascal moon is itself linked to the timing of the Jewish Passover. The western church, and much of the secular world, uses the Gregorian calendar whilst the eastern church has maintained loyalty to the Julian calendar. A discrepancy in the calendars means that dates for Easter may coincide or may be up to four weeks apart.
Not wrong, only different.
Amongst the many controversial words that Jesus spoke are these:
I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. John 10 v16 [NIVUK]
Many words have been written about what the first part of this verse might mean, and we can each understand it differently.
Should we worry about whether we are in the right sheepfold? Surely of greater importance is the reassurance in the second half of the verse. No human endeavour will be able to to reunite the various flocks; this is a job for the Great Shepherd himself.
Resources:
[1] The formula used for Easter was determined at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.
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Last week’s reflection: The Best-laid Plans
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
Could the sheep not from the sheep fold be the gentiles?
Indeed, you might well be right but I wonder if that might be too wide a definition – ie everyone else.
Be that as it may, I think the take-away for us it that we cannot assume that other people who are ‘not like us’ are automatically excluded.