What will we do with those we fear, despise, or oppose?

Photo by Madalyn Cox on Unsplash

These days, it seems that some politicians can build a “base” by promising to just get rid of anyone their fans fear, despise, or oppose.

It’s not the politicians that bother me as much as those who believe them.

Do they think that by putting Democrats in office, all Republicans will either be forced, or just retreat, back into their “basket”?

Or do they think that by putting Republicans in office, all Democrats will be forced, or just retreat, to the coasts, college campuses, and inner cities?

A lot of people these days seem to think that the solution to every problem is to just make people they don’t like…disappear.

Does anyone else see the problem with this?

For one, it is impractical and…impossible. Anyone who has ever been part of a family ought to know this. I’m not even talking about extended family. Three people and one dog live in our house and, believe me, there are times when we have good reasons for not getting along. It’s probable that I hold the record for being the one to whom the other two (plus dog) most often say: “Will you please just leave me alone?”

But, love aside, we are, in the words of the great Huey Lewis and the News, “bound by all the rest, like the same phone number, all the same friends, and the same address”.

Those who fantasize about breaking up the United States along conservative and liberal lines are out of touch with reality. And they don’t know the essence of the democracy they are either “making great again” or “saving” from those who are trying to make it great again.

Our American system of government–the one the Founders labored to design and build and for which our ancestors often died–not only assumes that opponents will share the country; it assumes that they will share power. That is the genius of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution itself is a compromise document, in which shared power between opponents and opposites is its inherent genius. The Founders knew that no world exists in which everyone agrees and everyone is alike. Even among those who seem to be the same, differences always emerge. So they made a constitution for the real world of constant opposition.

Recognizing that Americans will never agree or get along, the Constitution makes a way for them to “hang together” by sharing power. Through compromise and shared power, we don’t get something perfect–and if you’re reading this you are likely mature enough to know that perfection is impossible for human beings and what they make–but we get something good enough for everyone who is part of it.

In short, as the Founders imagined it, the only way for America to work is for opponents and opposites to share the country and share power.

This is why Abraham Lincoln exhausted and used up his life fighting for union above all else. He understood that America is designed to survive disagreement and even discord among it citizens; but it cannot survive the dissolution of the union which is constituted by the Constitution and the system it creates. When one group works against the union itself, they “burn the platform” under their own feet (as well as everyone else’s).

So when politicians and pundits act like the United States would be better off if some Americans would just go away, don’t listen to them. They clearly did not do their homework or pay attention in civics class back in the day.

You can’t “make America great again” or “save democracy” if you don’t even know the first thing about American greatness or its democratic system.

But this post is not really about civics; it’s about Christianity.

Christians, like me, sojourn in the United States. I say we “sojourn” because we are to be refugees passing through to our “upper and better kingdom.” We are not to possess the United States as our birthright or our promised land. Here, we are to be “as straying pilgrims” (as we used to sing in church when I was growing up).

Which means we Christians are to live here with what I call a “light touch.” To grasp for power and to fight like hell to keep it is to neglect our true calling and our true country, the kingdom of God.

We, of all people who get to participate in the United States, ought to be the ones who are most active and eager to embrace and love those our human (sinful) natures would rather despise, fear, and oppose. This is, after all, the heart of Christianity if we trust and obey Jesus Christ, who said:

“Love your enemies and and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Gospel of Matthew 5:44b - 46a).

We cannot obey the teachings of Jesus if we’re not close enough to “enemies” to love them! Note that what Jesus said here is not that we should be just polite to enemies whenever we cross paths; we are to be proactive in doing real (costly/thoughtful) good to those we count as enemies. We are to be invested, up close and personal about it!

In other words: Go find some “enemies” and invest your*self* in them! Make a shared life with them! This is the opposite of wishing (or working) for them to just disappear (see Galatians 5:15)!

This, I believe, is what it means for Christians and the church of Christ to be the “aroma of Christ” in a world that, frankly, stinks to high heaven.

Grace and peace.