"Talk me off the ledge...with the gospel!"

I think this is a phrase we need to use more often, with the right people.

For example, if masks are once again mandated in public places or in schools in our state or community, a lot of us are going to need to be talked off the ledge.

For some, it’ll be anger that so many people (more than ever) will defy the mandate.

For many (if not most in my circles), it’ll be about the mandate itself.

I recently had a meeting in coffee shop in St. Paul. There was a new sign right in the middle of the door so no one can miss it. It wasn’t there a month ago. No words. Just a graphic of a person wearing a mask.

I spent about a minute trying to figure out if this was a new mandate in St. Paul, and if it wasn’t, would I be disrespectful not wearing one.

I decided to wear it out of respect for the owners and staff, but even as I decided to do that, I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing.

I was driving Lois’ car, and I wasn’t sure she had clean masks in her car. I found one that might or might not have been used before by her. I put it on, but now my temperature was rising, and my mind was racing.

When I sat down with the folks I went there to meet (to talk about issues of race and the church among other things), I was tied up in knots emotionally.

My emotions weren’t spiraling down for the usual reasons people get upset about masks but because I was projecting a future where this might once again be an issue for our gatherings as a church.

Some people have asked me whether our staff has talked about potential new mask mandates. I explain that we’ve tried, but then we all start twitching, and we have to put off all discussion until a later time.

But i have to admit, part of my agitation stemmed from that sign on the door. Let’s just say it was a rush of thoughts and frustrations.

Here’s what happened next. The urban pastor I was meeting with addressed my agitation. He helped talk me off the ledge.

Quite frankly, his “in-this-urban-and-poor-cultural-context-with-a-more-collective-mindset-than-suburban-individualism” explanations weren’t working on me. At least not that day. And probably, in part, because we were in a coffee shop on Selby under an apartment building poor people can’t afford.

Then he pulled out the big guns—the gospel. He said two or three things I already know, but I needed to be reminded of. And he said them in a gentle and calm manner, not accusing me, but including himself in the need to remember.

My temperature started to go down. We started talking about something else. And later I thanked him for talking me off the ledge.

Later on I also remembered that I never get a pass from God to set aside the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Next time I get triggered like this, I hope I can remember to ask a trusted Christian brother or sister to talk me off the ledge and do it by getting to the gospel as quickly and as gently as possible.

Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash