Soft Eyes Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard January 24, 2016

Last week: the power of worldview This week... a little more Red Spade Experiment by Bruner and Postman How anomalies are treated How much resistance we demonstrate to changing perception or new ideas

Soft eyes The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer, p Example from Japanese self-defense art of aikido Transcending reflex...

Luke 4: And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

Luke 4: “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Luke 4: And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

Luke 4: And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Luke 4: And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

No wisdom... People who can only defend their own belief, can’t see the good in another perspective Polarizing voices in politics can be like this Extraordinary example: When President Obama said at a Prayer Breakfast that we, too, had made mistakes in history He was following the teaching of Jesus (remember the log and the splinter?)

A president slandered Scripture tells us to pray for our leaders We ought to try to praise the good they do It’s fine to say when we disagree But some people have so demonized this president that they can only ever imagine him doing evil They’ve completely missed all the ways he has tried to make life better for people

Hard Eyes They are like the people in Jesus’ day who couldn’t believe that God would be pleased with non-Jewish communities Jesus could have stayed happily within their expectations But then He wouldn’t have been staying within God’s

Amos 9:7 “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

Towing the Party Line Faithfulness or Folly?

Proverbs 15 1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. 28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

Proverbs He who restrains his words has knowledge, And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. 28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

Proverbs 18 2 A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.

I think a lot of Christians... Are not taking seriously enough the Bible they claim to follow Might have to ask forgiveness someday of people they have slandered because they held different views The discipline of Soft Eyes might change this

Matthew 6 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!