ON BEING WRONG

In my last post I mentioned this topic and how I recently heard Bishop Kee Sloan of Alabama speak on this at Growing in Grace. This past summer he attended the Lambeth Conference in England, which brought together leaders of the Anglican Church from all over the world. One night college students attending Oxford from all over the world invited all the bishops out to a local pub to talk about life, religion, politics, basically shooting the breeze with students. Unfortunately only a handful of bishops even attended the gathering. Kee was one of those few. At the gathering a woman from Ireland, who supposedly could not get any more Irish with her freckles, red hair, thick accent, and affinity for the drink, approached Kee to talk about Adam and Eve. She asked when that story took place. Kee answered that the Jewish tradition dates that story at around 6,000 years ago or whatever the exact date is. She started bringing up the fact that we have found fossil records from long before that. Kee started sweating a bit, not because he believes the earth is 6,000 years old, but because it can be hard to convince someone that you believe in the spirit of something and not the actual historical truth of a story, especially while wearing a clerical collar.

It was at this point that Kee remembered directing a special session camp for the physically and mentally handicapped at Camp Bratton Green. A 30 year old man name Billy who had Down Syndrome came up at the end of an evening when everyone was enjoying the nightly milk and cookies and asked "Mr. Keys" (the name the man had given Kee) if he could go behind the chapel to smooch his girlfriend. Kee had never dealt with a situation like this, so the request seemed a bit fishy. He told the man, "I'm sorry Billy, but that's against the rules." Billy quickly replied with, "But the counselors do it all the time!" Kee was put off, yet he was quick on his feet and explained that he was the director of the camp and it was his judgement and that the rules were the rules. Billy sulked off to tell his girlfriend the upsetting news. Kee went back to talking to other campers and couselors, though his mind was still with Billy and the words he spoke.

On his way to the director's cabin, Kee came across Billy again. Billy stood with tear stained cheeks right in Kee's way. The 30 year old man then told the camp director, "You know Mr. Keys, you could be wrong." As those words hit Kee's ears they stung him harder than perhaps any message of his life. Kee thought for a moment and took Billy by the arm, "You have ten minutes behind the chapel and that's all. Only kissing." Then, Billy headed off gleefully to tell his girlfriend, while Kee headed off to inform both their counselors where they would be and to make sure they were back in 10 minutes.

Kee drifted back to the pub in Oxford and realized that he was still talking to this Irish student. He came again to the realization that sometimes he could be wrong and that what was important here was not so much whether or not Adam and Eve truly existed, but the truth that lies within the story. As Kee wrapped up his story in All Saints' Chapel several weeks ago, I began to think of instances in my own life where I held onto things that were proven elsewhere to be false. Perhaps the most valuable lesson that I continue to learn in conversation, in reading my fellow fishermen's posts, in hearing others speak, and in attempting to empathize with everyone I encounter is that I could be wrong. How then shall I correct my wrong?