I was raised better than this, I know. Not only should conversations about politics and religion be avoided at all costs, but one should NEVER consider talking about them at the same time. So I am sorry. But I cannot help it. For whatever reason, this story has just gotten to me and I felt compelled to do a little reflecting on it.

I am not going to take the time to rehash the details of the story here. You can read about it by going to http://bit.ly/ban4ew. I will summarize by saying that Ms. Sherrod was forced to resign from a position with the US Department of Agriculture after a blogger chose to post a piece of a video from a speech Sherrod made in March. The section of video, taken out of context, led officials to consider Ms. Sherrod’s statements not in keeping with the “zero tolerance” policy on racial discrimination. Once the story was picked up by the wire services, the assumption that a federally appointed person was guilty of discrimination against a Caucasian farmer became “fact.”

Somewhere in all of this, I kept feeling a strong voice of the prophet warning us about our actions and assumptions. The prophet speaks to the people of God, and so, this seems to me to be a warning to the church. “Woe to those who drag guilt along by the reins of duplicity…” (Isaiah 5:18a) So, for what it’s worth, here are five things I have learned from this incident:

1. The presumption of wrongdoing and ill-intent can be devastating to real people leading real lives (and in the case of the church, real lives of faithfulness).

It appears that Ms. Sherrod pleaded for those asking for her to resign to listen to the entire speech in order to understand the context of her comments. Once the news broke about the edited video, even the NAACP weighed in on the side of chastising Ms. Sherrod. In the end, while she is waiting for a new position, her life has been forever changed by these events.  And when things like this happen in the local church or presbytery, to those without the option of bringing this to a public debate, the ability to respond to inaccurate or incomplete information is severely curtailed. People are labeled, shunned, “scapegoated,” and judged. Meanwhile, those who observe Christians lambasting one another continue to feel that a major problem with the church is its hypocrisy.

2. Policies and practices cannot be administered outside of relationship without the potential for great harm.

I doubt that anyone, including Ms. Sherrod, would argue that a zero tolerance policy on racial discrimination is a good thing. However, when coupled with an assumption of guilt, it became nothing more than a bludgeoning tool. I can’t get into a whole debate here about policies and practices in the church, but I do think this incident reminds us that real people are affected by the indiscriminate application of policy. The church is not a nameless, faceless entity. It is no more and no less than real people.

3. Vitriolic and divisive language and action hurts real people, not just groups or agencies.

It appears as if the intent of the person who posted the video had nothing to do with Shirley Sherrod. He was not trying to get her fired. He was trying to point out something about racism within the NAACP as a response to NAACP comments about racism amongst Tea Party members. How many more times must we be told that no group is a monolith before we believe it? The more we divide ourselves, by ideology, race, or musical preference, the more we seem to feel it is our right to denigrate those outside of the group with which we affiliate. I was told long ago, whenever you draw a line in the sand, you can bet that Jesus is on the other side of it. I guess I am just foolish enough to still believe that we can have unity and decency coexist.

4. Listening can bring healing.

Ms. Sherrod’s boss apologized. President Obama called her, as well. (I don’t think he apologized, but he did talk with her for seven minutes.) And the farmers referred to in the video clip have come forward in strong support of Ms. Sherrod and in the interest of the whole truth being revealed. The fact that folks have taken the time to speak is important. However, the fact that people listened to Ms. Sherrod seems to have brought her a measure of peace. I don’t know how else to listen to one another than to stay in relationship with one another. We don’t need to be persuaded to change our perspectives all the time, but we honor one another simply by listening more often than we speak. And who knows, sometimes we may just have our hardened hearts turned.

5. Grace abounds.

In all of this, there seems to be very little bitterness on the part of Ms. Sherrod. I know she is considering a lawsuit against the blogger. I kind of hope this has taught him a lesson without the legal system getting involved. More than that, it is hard to be unaffected by the story or to have our own assumptions go unchallenged. What would happen if we began to assign to one another pure motives? What if we assumed the best of one another? How much more of all that God intends might we experience if we opened ourselves to grace?

I guess that having recently returned from the 219^th General Assembly, I am particularly sensitive to the ways in which we can hurt one another, dismiss one another, and make assumptions about one another. And somewhere in the midst of it all, the prophet also cries, “Hope! Believe! God is doing a new thing!” May God continue to do a new thing in the Presbytery of Geneva, the PC(USA), and your life.