The election has come and gone and left in its wake a country at war with itself. In community after community, Americans on all sides don’t appear capable of listening to each other let alone maintaining healthy relationships with each other. And those divisions are in our churches, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Unfortunately, the Bible may
not provide an easy way to get out of this predicament. Just read these three
quotes from the New Testament:
Matthew
5:43–45: “You have heard that it was said, you must love your neighbor and hate
your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass
you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. God
makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the
righteous and the unrighteous.
Mark
6.11: If a place doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, as you leave, shake the
dust off your feet as a witness against them.
1
Corinthians 1.10: Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival
groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.
So, do we listen to Jesus
and love our enemies despite what they have done to “harass” or harm us? Do
listen to Jesus and shake the dust off our sandals, withdrawing our care and
support for people we see as enemies of the Gospel? Do we listen to Paul and shut
ourselves up in our churches to pray and listen to each other until we are able
to see our enemies as our sisters and brothers? What are we supposed to do when
loving and forgiving each other no longer seems possible?
In this current reality of
civil conflict, what will our preaching and prayers focus on? Unity?
Forgiveness? Loving and serving each other? And will our actions be aligned with
what we preach and pray? Will we sit down at the table again with those who
appear to hate leaders we support or violently oppose actions that we see as
God’s work of prophetic justice?
In an earlier blog this fall
I quoted lyrics from a song written by Jay Beech: I am the church! You
are the church! We are the church together!/All who follow Jesus, all around
the world!/Yes, we're the church together! And we are strongest when
we are the church together. But I am still trying to understand HOW to be the
“church together” right now, especially in the middle of an epidemic that has
become a partisan issue.
Covid 19 is a disease that
can infect, sicken, and kill anyone regardless of who they are or where they
live. What we now know after many months of this pandemic is that people who
die from COVID 19 do not sleep peacefully away. They struggle to breathe and
live with pain, while those who love them and those trying to treat them can
only watch.
In the face of that reality,
however, there are far too many Christians who appear to be ignoring the need
to serve others. Instead of doing what they can to protect others [and
themselves!], they talk about “religious freedom” and treat good health and
disease as the result of individual behavior, not something which requires
collective action. So why is any Christian expected to love and forgive people
who make it clear they have no intention of either changing their behavior or admitting
that they have done anything to harm their neighbors?
From my perspective, whether
the issue is COVID 19, systemic racism, immigration, or economic injustice, language
from rostered and lay leaders about unity, love, and even forgiveness are
well-intentioned but naïve. Rebuilding relationships within our communities
will not be easy, and it won’t happen automatically because of who won the
presidential election or because of a worship service focused on reconciliation.
It will require repentance, compassion, and humility. It took decades to get us
to where we are, and it’s going to take sustained work on community-building
and transformed perspectives on the relationships among faith, church, and
society.
According to Martin Luther,
God calls Christians to serve our neighbors when they are in need, regardless
of who they are, what they have done, or whether we like them. There are many
neighbors right now who need us to help figure out how to end the civil
conflict in our communities instead of adding to it. Are we willing to listen
to God’s call to mend and heal? Are we willing to learn what we can do to listen
to each other and learn from each other instead of calling each other names and
keeping away from each other?
Breathe deep. Have courage.
Be bold, confident that we are all in God’s hands.
Deacon David Rask Behling, Hunger and Justice
Advocate, NW Synod of Wisconsin
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