How to Disagree without Destroying the one place we all call home

"When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created, you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth. But you’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos," he added. Victor Glover, Artemis II Astronaut

From spaceship Artemus II, during the 10-day journey around the moon and back, four astronauts have given humanity inspiring pictures and words about the one place we all call home. In the bravado of this enormous human achievement, an equally enormous existential question that challenges mankind in this time of apocalyptic rhetoric and seeming irretractable division: How do we disagree without destroying the one place we all call home?

From territorial wars to domestic quarrels, disagreements are as old as earth. How we come to terms with differing views is important because—like it or not—we share one stage, one dance as the body of Christ. If you trip, I fall. We both stumble. Space travelers offer us human inspiration, but the eternal Creator of infinite space gives humanity spiritual instruction for survival of differences of choice that can lead to destruction if not handled with Godly wisdom like when Paul and Barnabus orbits did not align.

They were center stage in the spread of Christianity—came to that place of disagreement as they were readying for Acts’ second leg of Paul’s missionary journeys. Paul said, “No John Mark”. Barnabus said, “Mark”. What they didn’t say was, “Let’s call the whole thing off.”

  40 But Paul chose Silas and departed, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. Acts 15:40   

Barnabus took John Mark and went south. Paul took Silas and went west, and the rest they say is history. Christianity spread like a pandemic. What can we learn from their disagreement, so our disagreements don’t lead to dismemberment?

Not everyone is in the same place. John Mark wasn’t in the same place of faith maturity compared to Paul and Barnabus. He deserted Paul and his entourage in Pamphylia (Acts 13:13). Paul, Spirit-filled and undaunted in temperament, was fixed on his focus to: “…finish my course…to testify the gospel (Acts 20:24)”. Barnabus—Spirit-filled and wired as an encourager (Acts. 4:36) —saw his cousin, John Mark, through a mentor’s lens. Disagreements happen when there are different foci. Different doesn’t necessary mean wrong. Paul and Mark were not in the same place regarding Mark’s reliability, but that was no reason to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Not everyone needs to be in the same place: The Christian movement was new. The vastness of the harvest was wide (...the utter most parts of the world, Acts 1.8). There is plenty room to strategically deploy more than one team to more than one place to advance the Kingdom. Barnabas took young Mark to Cyprus to tend to the largely Jewish-convert church (Acts 15:39). Paul and Silas teamed up in a spirit of grace (Acts 15:40) to retrace their steps, visiting the largely Gentile-convert churches established during Paul’s first missionary journey to see how they were doing. Splitting into teams didn’t mean splitting the overall Acts 1:8 mission to “be my witness.”

Splitting doesn’t necessarily mean splintering. With the larger God view in view, both teams were successful. In fact, Paul, as he was concluding his ministry years later, asked for John Mark and endorsed him to Timothy as “helpful”. (2Timothy 4:11b)   

Paul trusted what he wrote to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 13:8 when division was ripping that church apart: Love never fails—not just any love but agape love. Some pronounce it “A-Gah-Pee” and some say “A-Gah-Pay”. No need to call the whole thing off when the whole thing is about agape—love thy neighbor as thyself. How you say it doesn’t matter. Living it does.

We end this article as we began with a quote from a mere man—Victor Glover, Artemis II Astronaut—looking back 252,756 miles away on the one home we all share—spaceship earth who agrees what God has ordained from a view from eternity: Love never fails.

"As we get close to the nearest point to the Moon and the farthest point from Earth and continue to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries on Earth, and that’s love…" Victor Glover, Artemis II Astronaut