Rumors

I heard a rumor about me on Sunday night. I was talking with a local friend who checks up on me once in a while. It was clear to me that this rumor grew from a lack of information about why I made some decisions. And in that vacuum of information, some had tried to fill in the blanks... thus birthing the rumor. I could tell that he was troubled... by what he had heard... and didn't even want to share it with me. I gave him the freedom to share what was troubling him and he did. It really was a harmless thing... and did not bother me... but it was not true. So I was able put him at ease about the situation and we both ended the conversation better.

Rumors... can be damaging can't they. Before I try to get all philosophical on rumors... let me interject a favorite '80's tune called "Rumors" by the Timex Social Club. Enjoy...



OK, back to the serious....

The power of rumors is tied to the power of words. Words can give life... or take life. Words can be used as agents for the gospel or against the gospel. In the gospel, King Jesus defeats the power of Satan through his substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. In doing so he inaugurates his reign over all things and begins... in part... a process of restoring all of creation to its pre-Eden wholeness and perfection (biblically shalom). At the appointed time... His reign will fully come.

As his ambassadors and agents of this good news, the church (those who gain citizenship into this kingdom through faith) is to live redemptively in these last days... in all that we do. The churches existence as a community of the redeemed is a foretaste of the future shalom that will wash over all things. When shalom exists... things are knit together as they should fit... as they were designed to fit... not frail and frayed... not disordered and dissected.

Our words, too, can express shalom or disturb it. Our words when truthful and righteous and godly can affirm and do the work of bringing shalom in communities and individuals and families. When our words are truthless and rumorful... we can tear apart individuals and families and communities.

The Church is the place where the wholeness of life (shalom) should be most fully evident. Our speech... our disagreeing... our demeanor... our attitudes... our community life... is to be a foretaste to the world of what life is like when Jesus reigns in our hearts... in our homes... and in our communities.

So practically how should we deal with rumors? Reject them... they are probably not true. Instead personally seek out the individuals involved... because truth is most often discovered in healthy, face-to-face dialogue. With truth in hand you will actually escape the trouble that comes from the destructive power of rumors. Reject + Dialogue = Truth.

The righteous man is rescued from trouble,
and it comes on the wicked instead.
With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor,
but through knowledge the righteous escape.
Proverbs 11:8-9