We’ve been having Monday Church for several months now and it’s been great. I haven’t shared any notes because I honestly haven’t taken many. We sit around and talk about something in the Bible while we eat lunch. (Mine is usually some kind of deconstructed taco leftovers, but I digress.)
This bit was kind of obvious but I’m glad he said it out loud and had some fancy statistics for it. Out party hate is greater than in party love. That means that more people are voting against the candidate they hate than there are people that are voting FOR the candidate they like! Boo! If only we could put up some candidates that we liked.
This “Othering” word is new to me too. But I feel it. Even in recent conflicts I’ve encountered this year, people have not done the hard work of finding nuance and depth in some of my opinions. Instead, hearing I like Coke, they assume I like Pepsi. That’s what othering is. Finding a small detail that helps you make the other person be on the other side – whether they like it or not.
The diversity in the church bit is good too. Are we representing the body of Christ when everybody at church is a big mouth with no ears? What kind of congregations do we have when we’re all the same? I’m not just talking black churches and white churches. I’m talking the same ethos, financial status, and of course same political party. We’re the Body of Christ y’all, not some social club! (prove me right, please)
Fear is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit, but it’s what’s leading us day by day in the Church. Our congregations listen to headlines and Fox news more than they are listening to the Bible. They are engaging and discussing headlines, not the scriptures. I know this because I listen at the coffee shops. I live in a city that is 80% Christian. Coffee shops are buzzing with TV news.
Finally, Bob Seymore had a great comment about solutions vs. protest. The change we make in the world is going to advance at once speed by our protests and boycotts. It’s going to advance at another speed if we bring solutions.
Not doing stuff because we disagree with it is one thing (boycotting people that support pro-choice).
Coming up with solutions and helping people is something different altogether (taking in foster kids, supporting single moms, and befriending young men to give them wisdom).
