You Say Potato

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh, I don’t know where I’m at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done

You say either, I say either
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either, neither, neither
Let’s call the whole thing off, yes

You like potato and I like potato
You like tomato and I like tomato
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto
Let’s call the whole thing off

Lets Call the Whole Thing Off ”Shall We Dance?” by George Gershwin

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off “Shall We Dance?” by George Gershwin

Have you ever heard that song? It’s about a couple who are fighting and can’t stand the way the other one pronounces words. The disagreement starts because they don’t like the way the other says neither and the most logical solution in their minds is that they should “call the whole thing off.” Aka let’s part ways forever because putting up with the differences and irritations is just too much.

Does that remind you of anyone? It reminds me of the church! We feel we can only have a relationship with other believers and denominations if we agree on everything. We get uncomfortable and angry when someone differs slightly from us on any number of things and we cut off that relationship and whine to our friends who happen to agree with us and we say, “They’ll see when we get to heaven that I was right… if they make it to heaven at all!”

We disagree about communion. When, where, how, who, what to say, who gets to serve, pass it around, common cup, or intinction, and what to wear when we take it? We disagree about membership, how to run a church, who can lead, what night to have youth group, what should missions look like, and what groups in the community to serve. Hats or no hats in church? Jeans or dresses, sneakers or dress shoes, answer the pastor or sit silently, raise our hands in worship, or keep them down.

Then we open the Bible. Uh oh! Which Bible did we open? King James, New International Version, New King James Version, Amplified, The Passion Translation, English Standard Version, or the New Living Translation. Have you ever seen the list of Bible translations? It’s incredible. I’m both grateful and overwhelmed by the options when I open my Bible app, but have you ever quoted from the wrong Bible to the wrong friend? Have you ever been annoyed by someone quoting “That translation?” I can confess to that, and even when we read the same verse in the same translation, we see it in two different ways… or three… or four.

That’s the fun part. Watching the people you love say something so crazy about a verse you know for certain means something else. You think, “Can they not see the comma? Who taught them to read? They have clearly never read what my study Bible says about that otherwise they wouldn’t be so wrong.” We gently or ungently correct instead of considering.

Yes, I know there are things we must agree on. Jesus Christ is God. He is the Son of God. He is The Word made flesh Who came to earth. He lived a sinless life, was crucified for our sins, died, and was buried. He rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. We serve a triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The church is the body of Christ, so let’s stop hurting His body. The church is the Bride of Christ so, let’s stop being jerks to Jesus’s wife! Can you tell I’m preaching to myself here? I have done this so many times that if it weren’t for the blood of Christ I would stand before you still covered in this sin. I have “called the whole thing off,” many times over little disagreements about doctrine, ministries, and interpretation. I have also had people write me off and slander me for not agreeing with them.

Why can’t we each consider that perhaps we are the one who is wrong or even more unthinkable, that neither of us is wrong? What if God allows for different ideas from His friends and different convictions and passions, puts us together, and says, “Love! Honor! Serve!” Doctrine, Bible translations, and the way we think a church should be run must not preclude us from a loving relationship with fellow believers. That Bible we all love and fight about says that if I don’t love, serve, and build up the members of His church then I don’t even know God.

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

1 John 4:7-12

By the end of “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” we find the couple realizes that despite their differences they want to be together. Separation would be worse than this bickering, so they decide to “Call off” the “Calling off.” Let’s join them and decide to do the hard work of disagreeing and loving anyhow.

I’m going to listen to this song again and tell God that I refuse to call the whole thing off no matter how that other Christian says potato… but I’m going to need His help.

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