I’ve gone round and round about what to write concerning our current state of political affairs and I have no consistent, singular thought.
Amid the hand-wringing and stress eating and earnest desire to understand what in the hell is going on, I keep coming back to the idea that politics has morphed into a caricature of culture.
It’s never been easier to run our own campaigns, what with the blogs, the FaceBooks, the Insta’s and the twitter accounts. What we thought was a longing to connect, turns out was an insatiable desire to Be something. Say something. Write something.
We spend large amounts of hours, culling through cleverly crafted information, gathering thunder, so we can re-write, re-produce and re-release our own version of similar thoughts in hopes of being lauded by our like-minded followers or shock the airwaves with bold soliloquies, daring the haters to show themselves. It’s an addiction; and we are victims and peddlers alike.
Meanwhile, back at party headquarters, look who snuck up on us.
If you’re inclined to think that one candidate or the other this year was the actual devil in disguise, then you must accept that they are our devils, made in our image, because we as an electorate have been practicing their sorcery for quite awhile now.
calculating … hedging … extrapolating … angling … inflaming … pontificating
Yes. We. Do.
We the people have not taken our responsibilities as a republic seriously. We’ve sacrificed our mandate to form a more perfect union on the alter of individual grandstanding. We’ve ceded the power of dialogue to talking points. We’re essentially holding campaign rallies on social media; scrolling through feedback, giving the perfunctory, presidential-like thumbs-up to adulating cheers while escorting any hecklers right on off our stage.
Too bad for us.
If the sky appears to be falling, perhaps its time we close our computers and put down our phones.
For starters, christians need to stop being so petty. Just stop. We all bring traits of an incomparable God to his table of infinite worth, so there is room enough for pro-life supreme court watch dogs and immigrant/refugee policy influencers alike. God loves with equal fervor the unborn and the outcast. We can and should advocate for both.
We aren’t all called to charge the same hill, though. Our great big God navigates injustice in all sorts of creative, distinct ways, often confounding the wise, so deliberate his plan and ability to execute.
But what we can do, each of us on our commissioned battlefront, is be the candidate we wish we could’ve voted for; we can be the policy we wish was now enacted.
What if we allotted each other the same grace we extend to those we champion?
What if we treated christians voting right of us, as strangers in an unknown land…that is to say, tenderly and without prejudice.
What if we treated christians voting left of us, as beating hearts at risk…that is to say, deserving of protection.
Or this…
What if we remembered that we like each other? What if we remembered things we’ve shared… like college dorm rooms, random road trips, big time plays in big time games, the perfect song for an occasion, wedding bells and newborn babies, finding purpose in the middle years, all the secrets safely kept.
What if we did that all day on Facebook?
Then again, maybe history conjures up a pain, inflicted or received, that these dramatic themes expose, which might explain why this feels personal.
I don’t know.
While on another slow jog, lamenting these very things, the Foo Fighters popped up on my music shuffle (which lent to a quickening of my pace, but that’s not really important 🙂 ). Here’s the challenge their song presented…
It’s times like these we learn to live again,
It’s times like these we give and give again,
It’s times like these we learn to love again,
It’s times like these, time and time again…
This isn’t the first and it won’t be the last, but now is definitely a time when christians are being defined. The question we must contemplate is one that Jesus posed (in the Gospel of Mark, no less) when the whole concept of “the church” looked like it may go under before it even got off the ground (and trust me, those were darker days than these)
“What good is it if we gain the whole {political landscape}, yet forfeit our soul? What can we give in exchange for our soul?”
The short answer is nothing and no good. No compassion, no empathy, no anything that’s real. Without a soul all we’ve got is a bunch of campaign bullshit.
The American church which I deeply love and ache for daily, I pray is defined by a love that never ends, not a democracy that’s destined to.
#werewithhim #makehisnamegreatagain
Just posted this on FB. It is just perfect! Good job putting so much into perspective and so personally challenging.
Thank you college roommate! I remember often how much I like you 🙂
Love this perspective!!! You write beautifully!! Hopefully a lot of folks will take it in!
Very nicely done Liz and I must say bringing in the Foo Fighters to the mix just improved your stock. I will read more often. E
I’ve come a long way since Amy Grant, Ethan!
Great perspective. Thanks for sharing! You are a beautiful, thought-provoking writer!
Thank you Lady D! You must really think so because you replied twice! Appreciate the encouragement 🙂
Beautiful!
Way to go my friend! Your words are so true! Love you!
thank you Robin! Love you too!
Thanks Lizzie!
Liz,
Thanks for putting into words my swirling thoughts and pierced heart better than anyone, as this election has unfolded on Facebook. Thanks for reminding us that we are friends and family as I’ve seen too many tear down with words, everything they have worked to build. In my case, even one of my own fold. Thanks for speaking truth and challenging us to something better.
Hugs.
You are always welcome – my friend. I know it’s not only your heart that is breaking or broken over the discourse this election – and the subsequent heartfelt issues. May you feel the effects of peace that the reigning Prince gives today and everyday moving forward. Love you!
Damn Liz! This is so good. Preach it sister!