Moving Forward and Looking Back

 

We cannot move forward without looking back.  If history has taught us nothing else, it has taught that by ignoring the failures and disasters of the past, we only set ourselves up for more disasters to come.  This applies to natural disasters, personal disasters and yes, even the political ones.

At the risk of sounding too cliché, imagine centuries worth of dirt being swept under the same rug.  Eventually it becomes a stumbling block.  Well, we have tripped over that massive pile of dirt and have fallen smack on our faces.  What have we swept? Continued racism, sexism, prejudice, hatred, bigotry, hypocrisy, arrogance, and corruption. Hypocrisy and arrogance are chief among these sins, for without hypocrisy and arrogance, these would have never been swept under the rug in the first place.

I am truly struggling with all the things these days.  It is enough to parent during a pandemic.  I am truly blessed to have an incredibly observant child, an employer who supports family first, a husband who works from home, and my ability to work from home part time. (Please don’t get me wrong, days in the office are a blast these days, even when separated by glass walls.)  I love our country.  I get all warm and tingly inside when I have an opportunity to dig into the law of the Constitution.  Although, there are definitely cringeworthy moments.  I love the IDEA of America, of the United States.  I grieve at what it has become, and I know I am not alone.  But the stress this uncivil war has caused on so many, including myself, has been unbearable at times.

What then do I do?  Do I ignore it, stick my head in the sand and let what happens, happen?  No, I cannot, I love this country too much. I love this crazy experiment.  I love the idea and the fact that all men and women of all colors, races, ethnicities, and religions ARE created equally.  But that idea doesn’t come from the Constitution; that idea comes from God.

I think one of the reasons this has been so gut-wrenchingly hard for me is that I do believe in a God of love, but I know God is JUST, which means, because I am a Christian, and because I love God, I MUST believe in accountability, and support it. Which I do!  I am unable to put words to how so many who claim Christ can ignore accountability now and request we push past this egregious afront to our democracy, our way of life, our Constitution, in the name of fake unity.   Fake unity is not unity.  Fake unity is a gloss over seething undercurrents of resentment, jealousy, hurt, fury and pain.  Unity cannot happen until there is accountability. 

I am not only talking about the insurrection, incited by the former President.  I am talking about the degradation of that office by his words and behavior. I am talking about the looking past of everything any one of us would wash our child’s mouth out with soap about.  I am talking about moving the bar for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES so low, that it no longer seems to exist. 

I am embarrassed by the behavior of the Senators and Representatives that are more concerned with their reelection by a “base” that espouses hatred, prejudice, and conspiracy over doing what is BEST for our country.  Holding someone accountable will only divide our country if our leaders encourage it.  If our leaders encourage reconciliation, unity will follow.  That’s why they’re supposed to be our “leaders.”  We, as a citizenry, have overall done an okay job electing these leaders, but let us face it head on:  we have screwed some of those up royally.

So, what do we do now?  We cannot sit by and watch our democracy crumble, regardless of who you voted for.  For me, it means a few things:  1.  We can no longer be complacent and ignore our right, privilege and duty to knowledgably vote.  2.  We need to realize that while it all affects us, it affects us ALL.  Meaning, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.  It is not only about one of us or a few.  We share this country, we share this planet. Isolating ourselves and voting for what will ONLY benefit us is a sure-fire way to create division.  It is not all about me. 3.  We need to vocalize this to our representatives now in an emphatic and legal way.  Protests are great, violence NEVER is.  4.  For me, and for I hope everyone who claims Christ, the true authentic Jesus who came to save the marginalized, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the woman and the man, the Jew and the Gentile: we need to pray.  We need to pray for wisdom for ourselves and our leaders. We need to pray that self-serving attitudes are replaced with attitudes of grace and mercy.  We need to pray that what is good wins out the day, and not lies.  We need to pray that those who seek to destroy are held accountable.  We need to pray that we live the life Jesus truly called us to: Love God, Love people, put others first.

Getting to Unity

I haven’t written much as of late.  It has been so very hard to try to put thoughts down because they overwhelm my mind and heart at times.  I try to settle them.  As usual, a run does me well.  Yoga has served to help too.  Hugs of a little boy.  Snuggles from a little dog.  Reassurances from my husband. All of these things have helped settle my thoughts and feelings, but they are still there, simmering beneath the surface at the ready.

I feel like a lot of us are there.  We are unsettled because we have watched an insurrection take place at our Capitol, fueled by words of one who should understand and rightly bear the mantle of his position. Regardless of if one’s opinion surrounding whether it was an intended incitement, it cannot be clearer that many careless words did in fact incite.  We see a cross in front of the Capitol not too far from a hastily built, but functional gallows- noose included.  We see someone carrying a flagpole with two flags on it: on the bottom “Jesus is King” and above it, a Trump flag.  We see leaders of our country calling for the hasty overthrow of a government they swore to serve, a Constitution they vowed to protect.  We see hate and vitriol between those who were once friends over their choice of elected officials.  We are rattled, shaken to our very core, as we discover more and more of the violence that took place on that Wednesday, January 6.  And unfortunately, we are shaken because every state capitol has received valid, credible threats of violence surrounding the Inauguration of our next President, Joe Biden.

I have heard a lot of people using the word “unity” indicating where we need to be, but I do not think we are there.  There are angry people everywhere.  The insurrectionists were angry.  Those who didn’t support that act, but still voted for Donald Trump may be angry.  I can tell you with certainty, there are many who did not vote for him that are beyond angry.  We are angry.  And unity cannot come from anger.  To reference Brene Brown, unity cannot exist without accountability.  And at present, anger is at the forefront, we await accountability.

Unity is the goal.  Unity doesn’t mean that we are not different in our opinions by any means.  Unity can exist if there is a common goal, and I think, the common goal are the ideals of America.  All men and women, of all colors, religions, marital status, socioeconomic status, gender identity treated equally and fairly.  We may differ in how we get there, but I think, I hope we have a common goal.

I believe we all want to be a patriot, but if being a patriot looks like insurrection, we should want no part of it. “Patriotism is rooted in humility.” (Dan Rather, What Unites Us.)  Wearing a flag pin is only patriotic if it accurately reflects the heart of a patriot, one marked by humility, gratitude, and perseverance.  Being a patriot requires honesty, and that means we must honestly look at what has gone wrong in this experiment of democracy.  Right now that means the investigations must continue and accountability, no matter who that includes, must occur.

I think we’re okay to not be at unity yet.  I think as a nation, being in the anger stage is about right. There are some who are still in denial, some who have moved on to bargaining.  We are grieving as a nation.  Until we walk through accountability and the grieving process, we cannot get to unity- not full unity.  We can unify our ideals, we can unify to fight a growing cancer in our country like white supremacy.  However, as a nation, with as many opinions and ideas as we have, unity is an extraordinarily challenging thing to accomplish.  We must respect the process of getting there, of getting closer and then having to take a step back, and then continue.  The struggle itself can often foster unity on fronts never considered.  Maybe this is our work.  Maybe just the work of grieving the great divide within our country and the forthcoming, tireless, hard, heart work of finding our common footing, will garner some unity.  Maybe.

The Long Hard Road

 

The “church” has a long, hard road ahead of it.  But as you look at the words in the Bible, we, as Christians, are promised that long, hard road.  It’s really difficult to watch so many who have come to the conclusion that being a Christian is only about being “blessed.”  They drive fancy cars, struggle with first world problems like lines at Starbucks or whatever their trendy coffee shop is, they have to wait for something.  (Full transparency: I bought a “fancy” car this year.  This is after driving vehicles dated 1996 and 2001 for many years, and after a 2017 purchase which proved challenging for my back. This new fancy car helps me be able to drive and travel without pain.  So yes, I drive a fancy car- it is a Toyota and love it and am grateful for it.  But I work my tail off for it.) These are not the struggles we are guaranteed in the Bible. Not by a long shot.  What we are promised is a long hard road of self-discovery, redemption, continual transformation, AND… hold your horses here… having the world look different than you might want.

What does that look like?  It looks like having a policy you might not like. It looks like swallowing the fact that after Roe, the Southern Baptist Convention took no stand against abortion, and even, eventually coming to the 1971 Christian Life Commission’s statement, “work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”

It looks like choosing a leader based on the person and not the platform. Why? Because God’s concern is with our heart.  We all know it is a heart issue. 

 Matthew 12: 34 “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Proverbs 21:2 “All deeds are in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of a the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”

If you voted for a platform or a party over the person, I’m sorry, I truly am. You’ve been misled into believing that it is what God would want from you.  Faith informs your values; your values inform your politics, no matter how hard you want to separate it. We are triune beings:  heart, soul and spirit.  Everything we do is informed by those 3 things.  Which means, that every leader is informed by the same things. 

It looks like when “your guy” is losing, putting on your big kid pants and acting like a grown up, instead of throwing temper tantrums and waging war on democracy by filing frivolous, unfounded, unsubstantiated lawsuits that get thrown out over being ripe, moot, or having zero actual factual basis. 

It looks like supporting your COUNTRY over your party.

It looks like prioritizing all life, unborn all the way to that of the men and women who sit on death row.

It looks like loving and respecting someone who might look different than you do; love differently than you do; live differently than you do.

It looks like taking a stand for what is true, and honest and right.

It looks like losing friends over taking that stand.

It looks like not going to Christmas with 30 other people because what is right is for us to hold our horses and think of people other than ourselves.

It looks like leaving a church denomination that has prioritized their world-view over what is happening around them, ignoring the damage they are causing by their lack of love in action to others.

It looks like having church in your living room to keep others safe.

No political party is going to stop God.  He’s been around a lot longer than our completely failed two party system.  Just because one party is fighting for the religious liberties of a religion you do not claim, does not mean that your religious liberties are being trounced upon. 

We are not promised the easy road.  We are promised the long, hard road.  We are promised the Refiner’s fire.  Please Lord, burn away my dross.  Let me become more pure, truer, and more beautiful in your eyes.  And if I may be so bold, please continue to burn away the dross of our nation.  We are desperate for true authenticity.

Citizenship May be in Heaven, But Our Job is Here

This is going to rub a lot of people I know the wrong way, but it has to be said:

Your citizenship may be in heaven, but God put you here for a reason-a job if you will.  That reason is to show his love to other people.  That reason is to steward the earth he created.  This requires that you stand up for truth.

Jesus did not blindly follow the government.  In fact, to the contrary:  Jesus pushed back. He pushed back against oppression. He pushed back against government corruption. He pushed back against self-serving dictators and those who would grab power by any means necessary to advance their own agenda.

This morning my heart is grieving more than it was in 2016.  No, the election is not decided and I am mildly hopeful that Joe Biden will be elected.  The reason I am grieving so deeply is that there are too many Christians who are taking the easy way out: following a person who says what they want to hear about abortion.  Do not include religious freedom in this conversation, because you already have it.  The Constitution does not guarantee only the Christian faith freedom or freedom from other religions, it guarantees freedom OF religion, for everyone.  Period.

This morning my heart is grieving because Donald Trump claimed victory with the election not even over.  Millions of votes, legally cast, have yet to be counted and his declaration is that he would gather his team of lawyers to STOP the counting of votes, because he didn’t want a ballot found at 4am to be counted.  I am embarrassed on behalf of our country that this kind of behavior is supported by so many.  Had he wanted them counted before midnight on Election Day, maybe fighting against early tabulation was a bad idea. 

My heart is grieving because so many Christians have put the issue of abortion above religious freedom of people who think differently than they do, above decency, honesty and truth.  My heart grieves that so many Christians ratify the behavior of someone they would not let teach Sunday School, and yet elect him as president!

You are here, on earth, for a finite number of days.  God has made exceedingly clear that you are here for a purpose.  This means, that “heaven is my country and God is my King” is great and wonderful, but you have a job to do here on earth.  That job is to live truth, boldly.  That job is to push back against that which is not true, decent, honest and loving.  This means that your job- and your employer is God- is to love the heck out of others, regardless of if they are gay, straight, transgender, black, white, brown, immigrant, asylum seeker, homeless, poor, rich, middle-class, republican or democrat.  That doesn’t mean “convert” them- that means love them, where they are.  Jesus did this if you need a reference.  He said to come and follow him.  Then he brought them into his life.  Then, in their time, they came to him.  And even if they didn’t “convert” guess what, HE STILL LOVED THEM!  If you are voting for a leader who doesn’t subscribe to that mentality, then you need to check your job description and make sure you’ve read it right.