Sometime in the last couple days I heard a political pundit say this:
“Politics is a blood sport.”
Meaning…
Full contact.
No rules.
Win at all costs.
Mixed martial arts fighting brutal x2. At least.
I cringed when I heard it even as I knew it was true.
At least at the national level.
And, that I think is the problem.
Because while politics may be a “blood sport” leadership is not.
And what we lack
And what we need
Is leadership.
We Are Not Smart Enough
First there was this…
“Everything is changing.
People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
Will Rogers
And then this…
Which hangs on the wall in the back stairway of our house
“It’s a sad day when our politicians are comical, and I have to take our comedians seriously.”
And, yesterday this…
“We are not smart enough to understand nuance.”
After walking for 30 minutes or so I was doing sit ups on our living room floor and had an evening sports program on the TV to help distract me as I counted to 100. The topic being discussed was the controversy around/statement being made by Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the playing/singing of the national anthem. Instantly, like with so many of the very real and very complicated issues which face us, the rhetoric became heated and divisiveness and simplistic which lead one of the commentators comment.
“We are not smart enough to understand nuance.”
Race is challenging and complicated to talk about.
The line between respect and very real issues is hard to talk about.
The meaning/expression of patriotism is hard to talk about.
And, in religious circles the question of where our primary allegiance lies is hard to talk about.
“We are not smart enough to understand nuance.”
Is he correct?
Have we lost our ability and/or desire to do the hard work of listening to and learning from those whose life experience is different from ours and who have a different perspective and understanding than ours?
And, why, I wonder, does it take a sports commentator to speak that truth.
The Moral Voice
He asked me how I was going to address the increasingly divisive rhetoric in and around the presidential election.
Not if I was.
But, how I was.
Behind his question was both was both an assumption and a request.
The assumption was that this place – a church – would have something to say about how we are talking to and about one another. The request was for some sort of framework; some reminders of values that he could use and others could use to think about and to shape his own response.
At some point, our conversation shifted from How was I going to talk about it to How might he talk about it. He is an educator. Charged with helping young adults not only learn facts and figures, but, more importantly, helping young adults learn to think and to articulate their ideas. What he was seeing was that the rhetoric of the campaign was already spilling over into the hallways and the classrooms of the school where he worked.
Where is the moral voice? He asked.
Not the political voice.
Not the economic voice.
Not the domestic policy or international affairs voice.
But the voice which reminds the rest of us of how we are to talk and to treat each other especially in such a heated and divisive moment?
In the end, that voice is our voice.
Each of our voices.
And, we are left to decide if and how we will use it.
A Reminder…
This is one of those mornings where I know what I want to say, but was not sure where to begin. Or, even how to get there.
The first thread I began to tug on grew out of reactions and reflections about our recent high school work trip to Colcord, WV. After 30+ years of working in Buchanan County, VA where I knew the people and they knew me and I knew my way around, Colcord was completely new. A new location. New people to get to know. A new style and expectations to get used to. Maybe that newness helped me to see where I was a bit more clearly. In our reflections one evening, Kathy and I asked the group to share their reaction to what we were seeing and doing. Their reaction is what you might expect. A number of them were troubled by the poverty. All of them were glad they could help. Most were surprised by the warmth and hospitality of the people and the community. What I saw was the incredible beauty of the mountains and and what I felt was the deep sadness of the people. Despite all the political posturing and slogans, the coal industry was gone and is not coming back. And, because the coal industry was gone, the young people were gone. And, because the young people were gone the community was growing older. I saw again the great disparity in our country. It is a long way from the New York metropolitan area (or any metropolitan area) to Colcord, WV. A distance measured not only or even primarily in miles. As a Christian. As someone who talks about and does his best to follow Jesus, how do I care about and live with and respect those whose perspectives and views are so different than my own?
And, then there are the conventions.
The Republican Convention just finished.
The Democratic Convention about to begin.
I am already tired of the rhetoric.
And, I cringe at Christian pastors who stand up and call those with whom they disagree “the enemy.” I watch as young adults who are the age of my children shake their heads and turn away and say, in effect, if that is religion…if that is Christianity…I want nothing to do with it.
Can you blame them?
I can’t.
In the midst of all that I found myself again wondering…
As a Christian…
As a person of faith…
As someone who talks about and does his best to follow Jesus…
How am I to respond?
Especially when what I see and read and hear feels so wrong and sounds so offensive and reflects values so counter to what I believe and to how I read and understand the Bible. And, given the climate in our country and the political season in which we find ourselves, I cringe because all this is going to get louder and meaner and more divisive.
So with that, here is what I would like to share with you.
Not as an answer, because I don’t have an answer.
But three verses from Christian scripture which have been running through my mind this week. Verses which I am going to do my best to remember and use as guides as I as I move through the coming days and continue to wrestle with the questions and disparity around us.
The first is this. From the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
For as many of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek. There is no longer slave or free. There is no longer male or female. For all of you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3: 26-27)
Maybe these words are among the most radical and most hopeful in Christian scripture. Those divisions which we create and build up and do our best to maintain…
Republican.
Democrat.
#blacklivesmatter.
#bluelivesmatter.
Gay. Straight. Queer. Transgender.
Are not what God intends and do not have the final word.
The witness of the Bible is that in our shared humanity there exists a common bond even if I cannot see it. Can I hold onto that promise?
And this. These two verses from Matthew’s Gospel.
I am sending you out as sheep into the midst of wolves.
So, be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10: 16)
Go ahead. Be political. Be strategic. Advocate and work for the positions and causes and values which are important to you and which you think are in the best interest of our communities and our country and the world. Bring all your political savvy to what you do and how you do it. Be as wise as serpents and be innocent enough to believe the impossible is possible. But never forget this, because this may be the touchstone verse in all of scripture. In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you. (Matthew 7:12)
I guess what I am trying to say is this.
Republican.
Democrat.
Conservative.
Liberal.
New York City.
Colcord, WV.
Remember this.
Remember who you are and who God calls you to be.
Who We Are. Who Do We Want To Be?
Yesterday, I read these two articles back to back.
The first held up a mirror reflecting back to us who we have become.
Angry.
Divided.
Suspicious.
Fearful of each other.
The second reminded us (me?) of who we might be.
Better together.
Stronger together.
Together even though and even when we disagree.
The first article put words to my discouragement.
Not just at a national level with our current political partisanship and presidential campaigns, but right here where I live. Just down the street. Somehow permission has been given that whenever we disagree with another’s decision or position, we believe it is appropriate and that we have the right to call them names or to call into question, in whatever terms we would like, their motives or character.
Really?
Our communities, to say nothing of our nation, are being torn apart.
Most people I know are disgusted by what they see and read and experience.
But, nothing is done.
It only seems to get worse.
And, then there is the second article.
A reminder of the importance of our social fabric.
A reminder that I am better when we are better.
I am stronger when we are stronger.
I found myself nodding in agreement as I read it.
But, here is what I wonder.
Is what David Brooks wrote merely wishful thinking or a signpost indicating we are beginning to see and to recognize who and what we have become and the first step in turning the corner towards who we would like to be?
