By Becca Waye, Highlands Ranch Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
This life is full of examples of unfairness: poor health, poverty, lack of familial support, lives cut tragically short, and on and on. The COVID-19 pandemic was an example of unfairness building upon underlying disadvantages. We can become overwhelmed by this “infuriating unfairness” and our inability to make any substantial difference. Elder Dale G. Renlund, Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke about what we, as individuals, can do to combat this unfairness. He taught, “We approach others with compassion and try to alleviate unfairness where we find it; we can try to make things right within our sphere of influence.”
He shared an experience of attorney and advocate Bryan Stevenson, whose legal practice is dedicated to defending the wrongly accused, ending excessive punishment, and protecting basic human rights. While defending a man who had been wrongly accused of murder, Stevenson reached out to the man’s Christian church for support, even though the man was not active in his church and was disparaged in the community due to a widely known extramarital affair. Stevenson spoke to them of the woman accused of adultery who was brought to Jesus. The accusers wanted to stone her to death, but Jesus said, “He that is without sin … , let him first cast a stone at her,” and the accusers withdrew. After recounting this episode, Mr. Stevenson observed that self-righteousness, fear, and anger have caused even people of faith to hurl stones at people who stumble. Stevenson then said, “We can’t simply watch that happen,” and he encouraged the congregants to become “stonecatchers.”
Elder Renlund expands on this analogy. “Brothers and sisters, not throwing stones is the first step in treating others with compassion. The second step is to try to catch stones thrown by others. How we deal with advantages and disadvantages is part of life’s test. We will be judged not so much by what we say, but by how we treat the vulnerable and disadvantaged.”
Renlund, D. G. (2021, May). Infuriating Unfairness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/05/25renlund?lang=eng
Becca asks: How do you catch stones? How does your faith community catch stones? And how can our Interfaith community work together across traditions to catch stones?
