For Christmas I was given A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, by Edwin H. Friedman. The book is filled with notions that challenge me on many levels. Early in the book, one such notion that struck a chord was Friedman's belief that having an "unreasonable faith in 'being reasonable'" puts a leader and the group s/he leads at risk. Sometimes we need not to be reasonable.
How many times have you heard someone say, "Let's be reasonable." Or, "You're not being reasonable." Why are we so concerned with being reasonable? There are times not to be reasonable, but rather bold and outrageous. There are times to simply do what must be done, even when it's not the "reasonable" thing, the "popular" thing, nor the "prudent" thing, but it's simply the right thing to do.
Our faith at its essence and core is NOT reasonable. There's nothing reasonable in the bold and prophetic story of Holy Scripture. There's nothing reasonable about death on a cross and resurrection to new life. There's nothing reasonable about the call to follow Jesus as Lord. Our faith calls us to put our faith in an outrageous and unreasonable Savior. Our world will not be transformed into a fuller vision of the Kingdom of God by reasonable faith and reasonable leaders and reasonable actions.
Do we have the nerve? Do we dare? I'm afraid we are all too often held captive by our failure of nerve and our need to play it safe and be "reasonable". God give us the courage and strength to be "unreasonable" Christians, to be bold and prophetic people of faith in a world where far too many are held captive by a "reasonable" faith of playing it safe.
In Christ,
Paul+
