THE STRESS OF OUR NATION

We are in a wonderful struggle politically at the moment.  Last week the RNC stood at the Nation's microphone declaring that it had the solution to America's woes.  Yet, their division beat them to the podium.  For a few days it seemed that the DNC should be feeling pretty confident for theirs was assumed to be a harmonistic group....until...until they approached their very first day.  Ooops!  Are we all alike?

Odder yet, both parties call for unity.  It seems that these don't mean a unity of thinking alike in philosophy and plan; but rather in framing a harmony which would mean that a particular party would stand in sync...against the other.  That's it?  To oppose your enemy is hardly meaningful unity if your own group is fragmented.  One party slams the other for their blatant inner division; but then turns only to gloss over their very same practices.  Somehow, it seems that the ones on "my side" get an exemption.  Odd, don't you think?

But not all people of the other political party (nor their biased-media coverage) are divisive, arrogant, or self-serving.  It is upon this awareness of the good, devoted, compassionate ones (on both sides) where our country finds eventual and solutionary hope.

While both of the groups should be slightly (okay, very) uneasy about their inconsistencies, we churches have a few matters to improve ourselves, don't you think? If one believes that society-at- large is turned off by one (or both) of the political groups, surely we of religious bent have work to do on the very same scale.  Where I'm headed with this is that it would seem that what would cure that which ails the church would, in turn, help the field of politics as well.

What if humility were to take the public square?  What if those seeking office were to express regret for their failures rather than shouting over their opponents?  Don't you think we would begin to believe that we may have happened upon someone rather....real?  And so it is in the church.  We are not in a contest to out-shout nor out-maneuver the Methodists or the Catholics or the Churches of Christ.  We are in this field to learn from the walk of Jesus how to more efficiently step aside and allow the tender mercies of God to help each of us get through the day.

I speak not of a cowardly, classless group of church wimps.  Rather, I point us in the other direction.  Jesus won by losing.  Jesus brought life to us by his dying.  This is a matter that would/does bless the church when we can get our hearts wrapped around such kind and potent expressions of outreach.  And if we could get better at this sort of thing, maybe the politicians would be encouraged to be truly unifying rather than divisive; rough around the edges sorta like myself on some days.

The stress of our nation has pockets of negative intensity.  But it doesn't have to remain this way.  The words and the style of Jesus might just cause more of us to dismount from our high horses.  And then wouldn't we all breathe a bit easier if we were to care about our opponents rather than out-yell and out-insult them?