9/4/09 :: Itching

jwinters:

I’ve been having a….”discussion” (read: argument) via comment at a certain Lutheran website.  I really despise that part of my DNA….but I’m so drawn to a fight…

The “problem” that I’ve been discussing (especially as it relates to my tribe, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) is one that my old roommate and seminary friend Chris Agne pointed out to me long ago in a bar next to the seminary:

“Everyone wants to complain, but when you ask them what the solution is to the problem, they act like that guy in class who says ‘uhhh…oh….I didn’t know you were going to call on me….’”

I’m not against complaining (obviously).

But I like think to every complaint you should at least have a proposed solution - even if you’re not sure it’ll work.  Otherwise you’re not really complaining.  The Bible calls what you’re doing then “grumbling”, the rest of us call it something that rhymes with “itching”.

The difference between that and addressing a problem is simple.  Problems have answers, “itching” just has an “itch”.

Image: antiitch by malbarddesign at Flickr

via jwinters