How, then, shall we live?

Nov. 9, 2016

This morning is the second time in a week I've awakened to a world that has looked different. The last one was just about baseball. This morning, as 44 times previously, we have awakened to a new president-elect.

Whether you got out of bed on the 'left" or the "right" today, I don't have to speak the obvious. You've lived and breathed it in your casual conversations, on television, on Facebook, at your Thanksgiving dinner tables, in your workplaces: We are a profoundly divided people. The conversations I've observed so far this morning convince me that won't change soon.

In a political sense, it's doubtful many are truly inclined to "come together," as is often spoken the day after an election. Yet Jesus calls us to be one.

How do we do that in a remarkably complex world amidst the divisiveness in which we live?

By remembering that when we look at "issues," we're looking at people. It's easy to dehumanize any argument, but whether it's taxes or the 2nd Amendment or streets & sanitation, what matters is how we as humans live together in God's created world.

By remembering that it's highly unlikely Jesus would have sided with one political party. He came to embody the kingdom of God, not partisanship. For the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we do well to know we don't gain the inside track to God's favor by how we vote.

By remembering that in calling us to love and respect one another, Jesus didn't say, "Let's all just get along." Despite how we may think about the "issues" of the day, persons of faith claim these things matter and must be worked through: racism, sexism, poverty, war & peace, and all forms of hate.

Hate isn't just "out there." I have witnessed disparaging public conversations about issues close to home - such as Milton's school referendum - in which neighbors denigrate one another. Hurt and divisiveness will not go away once ballots are counted.

God gave us Jesus in order that we might be reconciled. God gave us the church so that we might be better together than alone. And God gave us the Holy Spirit for a time such as this.

As Christians, this we believe:

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?"
- Micah 6:8 [NRSV]