Watchword: Nuance

I would like to propose that we have a conversation. Well, maybe not a conversation, since that is what post, post modern millennials are having to the detriment of everything blessed. Perhaps a debate. No, no that just conjures up the image of old, white patriarchs, suited and groomed with political talking points on name-your-favorite fake news organization. Parley implies you aremy enemy.  Dialogue? Patriarchy again, just Greek flavored. Council? Also patriarchy of the ecclesiastical kind. I know I’m taking a chance here, but I am proposing we have an argument. Hey man, I just want to talk. Let’s not get heated. By whatever noun you feel comfortable describing what it is humans do (I realize this is discriminatory against horses) when they make sounds with their voice to form recognizable chains of syllables, and this between one another, we apparently must tread carefully. And here is why:  “It’s more nuanced than that.”

    The word nuance, has become for me one of those filed under “dem’s fight’n wurrrds” and of course I mean no offense to my fellow southrons.  It is one of those words that has the ability to fuel the fires of discussion but also to extinguish them in the same emission. It is on the one hand, a legitimate admission that any given subject is complex, gray, up for interpretation, and therefore discussable.  On the other, it plays the role of an illegitimate admission that any given subject is complex, gray, up for interpretation, and therefore NOT discussable. It’s the old verbal stop gap: “Well, I guess we must agree to disagree.”

    Within saintly circles, nuance is not a problem unless it’s the last word: effectively ending the exchange. The presence of subtle distinction and variation should inspire the Christian’s pursuit of discussion not discourage it.  Nuance is the weight upon the digging shovel, to press it’s cutting edge further into the gold laden ground. Nuance should not be mistaken for the stubborn rock you can’t get past. The watchword at hand is really just that, a watchword, and only for the short time being.  The attitude behind it however, needs snuffing out.

    As nuanced as it may be, let history briefly speak. From Antioch to Jerusalem, Wittenberg to Westminster, the fires of vigorous argument have forged the gleaming weapons in the fight for faith. To forsake those furnaces and forgotten casts because of nuance permits our brazen enemy to approach our lines to meddle, or worse.

    The Christian affinity for discussion, argument, and debate needs rediscovery in some, affirmation in others and cultivation in all. Of all people, the Christian has reason to argue, both in faculty and cause.  The church (any the world) needs our hearty discussions over difficult things, without fear of divisions or hurt feelings. There is no “agree to disagree” over nuance. The fact that we can’t come to mutual conclusions beyond doubt at the present does not reveal all parties to be equally right. What is true is true and is the standard.  This is Christ and his word. It is sharp and measuring. However, our irons are getting dull, and our edges are found wanting the stone.

- J