On Thursday of Vacation Bible School week (July 25), the Teen Class went to the local Soup Kitchen to serve. That particular day, the Soup Kitchen's crew was fairly small, so there was much work for the St. Peter's group to do. Though few in number, our youth got down to business and did a very commendable job.

It was a particular joy to sit back and watch our youth work with a thoughtful woman wearing a Unitarian tee shirt. Though there probably would not have been much agreement, between this senior and our youth, on matters related to the Christian faith (after all, Unitarians reject the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ), they worked together swimmingly well in serving meals to the needy.

To this, some might reply: You see, truth is not needed for various people of various beliefs to do good works of mercy. In a sense, that is correct. Full agreement on the full range of Biblical and doctrinal truth is not necessary for people with varying beliefs to accomplish works of mercy together. On the other hand, the servers at the Soup Kitchen assume, as shown by their service, the truth that all people are created in the image of God and endowed by God with the special dignity given the human person. In other words, truth is hard to avoid -- even at the Soup Kitchen.

In our time, there seems to be a full-court press against truth. There are some, in American society, who want to erase the truth of religion and morality from our public life. There are some, in the various denominations, who seek to order the life of the churches without reference to the truth of the Christian faith. And there are some, in countless congregations, who want to do mission and ministry without truth because truth is simply too controversial to bring up.

But the matter of truth cannot and should not be eliminated from human experience. It has been claimed that human beings are hard-wired for the truth. Victor Frankl has written about "man's search for meaning," which is another way of expressing man's search for truth. Created in the image and likeness of God, we human beings are inescapably interested in -- seriously interested in -- truth.

To be sure, there are varieties and dimensions of truth. Biblical truth. Doctrinal truth. Moral truth. Philosophical truth. Historical truth. Journalistic truth. Psychological truth. Political truth. Scientific truth. Mathematical truth. In all these cases, we do not possess truth. But we can and should serve such truth.

When will we, in our own places and in our own ways, speak up? How will the Church find her voice to speak up in public about issues of great importance? When, and only when, we are convinced that what we are saying serves the truth. Otherwise, we are just putting out personal opinions -- of which there is never a shortage.

Brothers and sisters, "speak the truth in love," as St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Doing so, you will offer others a great gift.