FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
I focused last on “encouraging one another,” let me press a little in the extension of that idea by using this other idea that the apostle Paul has suggested to us, namely, “exhort one another.” I have taken it that encouragement is a milder form of exhortation.
While encouragement means to inspire, cheer up, pep up, uplift, buoy up, and support someone with confidence and hope, exhorting means pressing upon someone, challenging them, calling them out, urging them, leaning on them, putting pressure on them, imploring them, provoking them, coaxing them, anything that can be done to get them to go in a good way.
The latter does not mean harsh, but it takes on seriousness so the one being exhorted understands the consequence of taking the wrong path. During the height of the pandemic, I remember how my wife used to urge me to make sure that I put on my mask when I was going in public spaces and even in the house when I sneezed. Sometimes, I sensed a bit of angst in her voice as she tried to ensure we were safe. I did not blame her. We have been together for 53 years, and I knew she did not want to lose me or I losing her because of some reckless behavior.
What my wife was doing in cautioning me was not just a phenomenon in our house but was also being done by Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to 2022); Dr. Deborah Leah Birx, who served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator under President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021. Dr. Birx specializes in HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. Other Coronavirus Response Coordinators would follow her under President Biden.
We must not forget the local Departments of Health, the pastors, churches and other community organizations personnel drawn in to be trained in Health Literacy and other aspects of supporting their communities. They offered strategies to exhort individuals to take all precautions to combat the pandemic, confront the diverse conspiracy theories and political arguments against vaccination, etc. Yes, my wife and I were among those who went to training and needless to say, we learned a lot about giving advice without causing conflict or putting people down.
While we were taught to urge and try to persuade people about the more positive steps they could take to protect themselves, it also reminded us that people have “freedom of choice” and that exhorting does not mean commanding, or forcing. This does not mean that the urgency and passion should be left aside when we are trying to help someone in an emergency.
In moving from the pandemic, let’s think of a person who decides to swim in dangerous waters, is approaching a massive fire, or is confronting a coming hurricane or storm. You would use all the passion in your voice to persuade them not to. Governors of many states were passionate and insistent in their warnings about impending catastrophes. For example, if a hurricane is coming, they get on the radio and TV or any other form of media, making their announcements urging those who live in the area to get out.
The climate change evangelists (if we can call them so) are making it clear to us that there are storms of various kinds on the horizon, and we must take caution. They are saying it as I have heard some parents say to their children, “I tell you a thousand times, and I do not want to tell you again, you’d better get out of there before it is too late.” What the climate evangelists are doing and what some parents say might seem like an exaggeration, but the point is that if danger is near, we need to be clear in our exhortations.
The above reflection came as a result of reading Hebrews 3:12-13 which states: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.” Therefore, We must not ignore or take lightly any exhortation given for the community’s safety.
The call to exhort one another is directed to a community of believers but also to all who feel a need to help those in the world community to prepare for the crisis ahead. It is to help them enter the kingdom of God, and there is a need to heed the word. “Exhort one another every day.”
