If you want a friend in Washington

If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. Attributed to Harry Truman this aphorism captures the great challenge of relationships. It is painful to feel a means to someone else’s ends. Often our relationships (and maybe I should just say my relationships) can be characterized by such twisted motives. No one likes to be “used”, even if the ends to which one is “used” are in themselves good. The personhood of the other becomes irrelevant to the user. One is simply a means to an ends. It is the denial of the other. I think this characterizes much of our religious discourse today. One would hope that this kind of marred interpersonal relationship would be less common within the church. But religious convictions tend to offer some cover for self-deception, and it is, perhaps, more painful when experienced with the religious. One can see such self-deception in the benevolent worker, and one can see this in the pious personal evangelist. So what is one to do? Confession, repentance, and forgiveness the community of the people of God provide hope in a world of broken relationships not only in their health but also in their weakness.