Living Together on Uncommon Ground: Respect

Today, we continue our worship series that invites us to extend ourselves beyond the divisions we feel in this world. This week, we consider what it means to respect each other, irrespective of our differences. “R.E.S.P.E.C.T., find out what it means to me,” so sang Aretha Franklin. And she convinced us that it means a lot. Sometimes we think having respect means to agree or be the same. But that is not actually the depth of what respect is about. It comes from the Latin respectus which means “the act of looking at one often, to consider, to observe.” We are called to respect by tending to one another–regarding each other, considering each other–early and often. The reality is that common ground is sometimes not possible. As so as we live on uncommon ground, what can we do to keep tending to one another as “kin” worthy of respect despite our differences?