In my inbox today, I found the following quote. It's from a conference I considered going to, but couldn't get there...this is part of the conversation after-the-fact. (with one or two edits of my own, for the purpose of clarity in this space)
"It's more important to be kind than right." With these words I introduced this year's speaker. Many theologian types in the room breathed a sigh of relief when Brian McLaren got up and modified my intro with, “I’m not sure it’s correct to say that it’s more important to be kind than right but I can say that if you are not kind, you are not right.” With this we launched our two day exploration into the surprisingly controversial land of kindness.
I found this thought very life-giving and refreshing. I don't like putting kindness and right-ness in opposition to each other. I don't want to be pushed into sacrificing one to the other, either way.
How does this quote hit you? Do you find it easier to be kind or to be right? What complications come up when we try to incorporate both? How did Jesus handle right-ness vs. kindness? Is the Church (not just ours, but the Church in general) better at being kind or being right, in your experience?
