General
Love, Not Hate.
Mar 22nd
I sit down to write this the morning after a historic vote on Health Care here in the United States. I’ll confess right up front that I’m happy about the result (just to get that out of the way) but I know that many others, especially many Christians, are not. I don’t pretend to think that all Christians agree on everything (or the the bible dictates that one political party is right and another wrong) and I’m glad we can have such wide ranging views on the world and still follow the same Christ. All that being said, let me dive into my point:
This morning as I drove to my local Starbucks, I was listening to talk radio. They were, of course, talking about health care and taking phone calls on the topic. It was a self-proclaimed liberal talk show, so I was surprised that they took a call on the topic from an unashamed conservative. The caller mentioned, right off the bat, that he wasn’t happy about the bill’s passage and a conversation ensued about the good and bad points of the bill. I sat there shocked. A conversation ensued. Respectful back-and-forth took place. There was no yelling. There was no name calling. There were questions like “What don’t you like about the bill?” and statements such as “I can understand why you don’t like that…” I was flabbergasted. This was the political conversation of my dreams. Respectful adult disagreement on an important issue which was totally devoid of hate. I felt like America had progressed, even for just a minute.
Now, let me say that I have no illusions about why this conversation came easier on a liberal talk show than it might have on a conservative one today. It’s easy to feel generous and to be a good listener when you win. It’s easy to respect the other side when you know you bested them, politically. I won’t pretend I would be writing this blog entry if I was on the other side this morning…but good is good, even if I wouldn’t have felt like saying it after a ‘defeat’ of my ideals.
We Are A People Of Love
That brings this entry back around, as it always does, to my faith in Jesus and my involvement with Christianity. After hearing this debate on the radio, I sat down to my computer and launched my social networks. The vast majority of my friends on these networks are Christians and I was afraid to see what was being written.
Stop there for a second.
Why should I be afraid of what Christians were going to be writing this morning? Is it because I knew that a majority wouldn’t be happy about the outcome of last night’s vote? No, I wasn’t afraid of disagreement (the radio conversation just inspired hope through the voicing of disagreement). What I was afraid of was hateful disagreement.
The fact that I was afraid of this was based on previous experience. In the past my political and religious math tells me that Christianity + Politics = Hateful Speech. I can’t think of hardly a single exchange over the past years where a person of faith talked about political issues in a way that uplifted me or inspired me to follow Christ and love others more intensely.
Why is that? Why is today’s Christian political discussion seemingly based on mudslinging hate against “the gays”, “baby killers”, and “liberals” instead of on love, hope and inspiration? If I was outside the faith, why would I want to sign up for such hateful religion?
The Proper Response
I want to bring it back to that radio talk show discussion. Then I want to ask a question that I don’ t have an immediate answer for: How should Christians who disagree with last night’s vote address today’s world in love? What would a truly Christian response look like? Would it talk about killing babies or would it be thankful for the millions who will be helped through these changes? Would it assert the positive (and respectfully voice overall disagreement) or only mention the negative?
I know, I know. Christianity doesn’t mean being a hippie that only sees good. We know that there are evils that need to change. Jesus clearly saw those and spoke out against them (but let’s not forget: we’re not Jesus either, so we need to take that behavior with a grain of self-doubt). Is the most effective way for us to change things an approach based on love and respect? Or on hate and mudslinging?
I only ask for a loving response today. I don’t ask for agreement. I don’t ask for acceptance of things that go against our faith. But I do ask for love and respect. How are you, as a Christian, responding to last night’s vote? In love (be it disagreement or agreement) or hate?
Making Time….
Nov 11th
One of the biggest things my family has battled with is the busyness of American culture. Nearly everyone I talk to agrees that America has a broken mentality of being too busy too often, leaving no time for the things that matter most: family, friends, peace & quiet. Instead, we sign up for too many programs, work too many hours, shuttle our kids from one place to another, work too much at church or other volunteer organizations, or just plain watch too much TV. If everyone agrees, why is no one rejecting the lifestyle?
In my family we’ve made rejection of this a priority. We try and keep work to a minimum. We don’t over-commit (which means we often under commit) to ministry work. We don’t sign our child up to do, well, anything. We don’t go out very often and we are getting good at saying ‘no’ when too many options present themselves on the weekend. Doing all of this has been a great improvement in our lives. We feel less hurried and we end up spending a crazy amount of time together as a family. When an opportunity comes up to see friends, to help out with a project that is a good cause, or to just go play at a park we almost always have time. Friends could call on a moments notice to hang out or to ask for help and we’re here just waiting.
But this is where the problem begins to surface We’ve learned that making time in life for relationships, family, and friendships is the right path, it’s an awesome step in the right direction. However, if no one else takes that step with you…it’s lonely and, quite frankly, boring.
You see, now we’ve got all the time carved out and, well, we don’t know what to do. We sit around the house basically staring at each other because, while family time is awesome, eventually you want to connect with other families (be it friends or extended family of your own). And, if none of them have the same vision you’re left sitting on the sofa hoping that someone will call.
So, this entry was born in frustration that we’ve made the step to build relationships, we’ve cut things out of our lives to make time…and no one else seems to be willing to put their money where their mouths are. Why not?
I love my friends. I love my family. I understand that everyone isn’t on the same life journey as we are. But it would be awesome if more people started taking time out of their lives like they say they want to. Everyone says they’re too busy, but no one actually does anything about it.
Sure, it’s a selfish request, but here’s my encouragement. Stop complaining about being too busy and take some actual steps to simplifying your life. If enough people actually start living this way, we won’t be so bored. Now go out there and learn to say “no” more often!! ;)
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