Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1Peter 2:10-12
Dear Christian brother and sisters,
Many of us are at a serious impasse in these early days of the Trump presidency. We are fighting against one another. We are throwing stones and condemning each other. Conservative vs Progressive. Republican vs Democrat. Winners vs Losers.
Let me start this post by acknowledging that we are all in the same standing with Jesus. We've all sinned (and struggle against it daily) and are only righteous through the blood of Christ. We've done nothing to earn our grace and mercy and nothing we do now can elevate us in God's family.
In my past I considered sin outward behaviors like fornication, drunkenness, and swearing. As I've aged and grown in Christ, I've come to realize that sin is something much different. Sin is trying to find my righteousness and wholeness in anything that is not God. I have sinned in trying to be a people pleaser. I have sinned by using food as a comfort. My sins are many and I repent.
What I bring to you today are these questions: Have you used conservatism as a form of righteousness? Have you tried to find wholeness in politics? I ask this of you because I have been guilty of this myself. As a young Christian I hid behind the tenets of the Conservative Faith. Things that are coming from your lips in response to this new administration are words that I myself have uttered.
But, through the course of my life, my heart has been changed. I met people who are different than me. I befriended feminists, atheists, single moms, WIC recipients, LGBT people, black/brown people, and liberal Democrats. Through those relationships I have learned that people are not issues.
I have learned that God cares about the hearts of all men and women and is using Christians to speak truth and love to them in relationship rather than using the rule of law. It is so much easier to shout scriptures at an issue than to look into someone's eyes as they share the experiences that led them to where they are. Frankly, a lot of their stories include being rejected and uncared for by the Church. It breaks my heart.
Furthermore, it makes my soul cry out when I see "them" doing more to assuage the suffering in our nation than "us". People outside of the faith are looking at us and seeing a body of people who are rigid and hateful. They are accusing the Church of doing wrong...and they are right. We have allowed our politics to become a place of restriction and heavy handed law as opposed to the freedom and grace that Jesus has selflessly given to us. They want no part of whatever it means to be Christian in America.
As I learn about other humans and as God is magnified in my heart I find that a lot of our the sociopolitical issues in our nation have been exacerbated by OUR unwillingness to let go of our comfortable, white, nuclear family filled pews. People are protesting now because for generations American Christians have been happy to let "them" fight their own battles. Some of their battles are messy and complicated and ugly and people of faith haven't wanted to get their hands or their reputations dirty.
I want to implore you to examine your anger. I invite you to investigate your beliefs around blackness and poverty and homosexuality and whatever other political issues you champion. Ask yourself, am I trying to honor God by speaking love to people who are different than me or am I trying to control other people's behavior with the law while I enjoy Grace?
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