Standing up for your convictions is not easy because, when it’s the dissenting opinion, it seems that there is always something at risk.
And yet, if we firmly believe what we’re fighting for, then we won’t back down. Will we? If we are true to our baptismal callings, especially the call to work for justice and peace in the world, then we don’t have a choice. Whenever and wherever that peace and justice is threatened, we have a calling and a responsibility to stand up for it.
Standing up for our convictions is difficult, but it is our calling as baptized children of God. Will we sometimes fall short of that calling? Absolutely. But we never fall short of opportunities to reevaluate just what it is we hold to be true and worthy causes, and to try again to stake our lives in that truth.
This is excerpted from “Standing up for your convictions,” written by Emily K. Hartner that appears in the May 2014 issue of Cafe.