Allowing Allowable Differences
by Michael Doyle

In our family's living sanctuary,
The Bible serves as a special library.
It teaches us how to live and to love,
Instructed in conversation with Heaven above.

Each of us has our own interpretation
Of what it is and isn't to be our contribution.
Live or die, we live as we serve
Giving and getting, under our God's will as we deserve.

Living faith is not a matter of precision.
Each of us lives by our methods and decisions.
Anchored as it is with a sense of unity,
To prevent division and live in harmony.

The lessons of our living day
Is that differences are something, okay.
Disputable matters are not something to fight
And wisdom allows us different paths within the light.

We walk our own path in our life's seasons,
Each of us having our own set of reasons.
There is no need for stolid conformity,
Forced into being by a false need for uniformity.

We are to look to the Lord as our guide
In all that we live and in what we decide.
Living unto the Lord as one community,
Still, we allow individuality in our holy family.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light.
This, then, is the true harmony that we know to be right.
Doing life as we do to live as we love one another.
Differences are normative in our sisters and brothers.

We are careful of these things that we speak,
Judging not those who are the strong or the weak.
But instead, allowing each to live in faith as we are.
So long that is, as Jesus remains our North Star.

The challenges lived should not be made into complexity.
We can be trained out of our traps and our simplicity.
Faith will lift us into our days of salvation.
The journey carries each of us to our heavenly destination.

Our patterns and practices are often due to proximity.
Such is the way of living as a spread-out family.
Drawing near to the table of our corrections,
We bring God's family together with faithful intention.

God's Word signals what is commanded.
If it isn't, it is not to be demanded.
Let us lean in to the only solid proposition - 
That each of us is allowed multiple positions.

With grace, we are to lift up and encourage
All around us so as to not discourage.
In all the nonessentials, we are at liberty.
These things are to be considered with charity.

Faith, not fear, shall guide our way,
So that we might live better every day.
It is God who has the final say.
Love, not judgment, shall be in the words we say.

The Gospel is exacting and entirely exclusive,
Though God's love for everyone is inclusive.
Everyone will spend eternity somewhere,
We want you to be in Heaven because we care.

Doctrine, not preferences, is what is right.
Let's allow each other space within God's light.
There are a multitude of allowable choices, 
And room enough for a choir of different voices.

(c) October 5, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved