I agree with Mark’s comments — you don’t want to be in the “middle”. Being in the middle indicates being “neutral” and not really taking a position. We are either for Christ or against Christ. And if we are for Christ, that means we need to be practical and proactive about being for Christ. For example, you can use any hot button issue as an example — taking the position of Christ or the Church’s teaching can lead you to being labeled as “radical” or “polarizing”. And because we have a secular media, that label tends to do serious damage. However, I feel that we sometimes allow such labeling to do serious damage because we do not stand strong. We either apologize for nothing, or try to clarify positions that do not need any clarifying. And then we shrink and say or do nothing.

If you are being “neutral”, it means that you are not being practical or proactive about being for Christ. Being in the “middle” can give you a false sense of feeling safe — one can slowly begin to drift towards being against Christ without realizing it.

Blessings.

Our crosses are tailor-made, “bespoke” like a suit. They are heavy, but we have to trust that we have all that we need to carry them for the Lord.

Oh yes, and a big cause for me to tend to drop or want to drop my cross: laziness!

I respect your position, the middle. But if you are suppose to be Christ-like, the middle is exactly where you don’t want to be. All the major players in the Bible were radical to some extent, Jesus being the most radical of all. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of one thing Jesus said or did that wasn’t considered at least a little countercultural. Jesus was a walking paradox.

So the title of your reflection, “Radiating Christ in the Tension”, may be what we should do in times of division, but let’s not forget, Christ can be the cause of the tension. He even says so.

Mark