Last week I wrote about how our political discourse has become so infected by violence. Then, as if to put an exclamation mark on those comments, this morning we learned of the horrible shooting targeted at Republican lawmakers.
However, while we could hope that such tragedies would bring our nation together, the opposite actually seems true. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers saw an uptick in threats today, a reminder that this culture of violence plagues both the Right and Left as I observed last week.
And although Capitol Hill showed a few flourishes of bipartisanship and unity today, as the day draws to a close even that begins to break down. The finger pointing and blame-games have already begun. The LA Times observed that the shooting may actually have further aggravated the tensions and violent discourse. In their words, "brief harmony proved a mere pause as the country descended into an even deeper slough of animosity and political loathing."
In such a culture, where can we find hope?
"The faithful have been swept from the land;
not one upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;
they hunt each other with nets." (Micah 7:2)
This is where the church comes in. In the midst of darkness and hopelessness, the church is called to be "salt and light," to be a "city on a hill."
The Mennonite ethicist and theologian, John Howard Yoder, repeatedly made the claim that the "meaning of history" lies not with government or the world, but within the Church. By this, he meant that the church does not need to follow the world, but that the church must live out its true, counter-cultural identity since the world will ultimately follow the church. The Church does not need to seek power or influence over the world, but simply needs to be the Church.
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| John Howard Yoder |
In The Politics of Jesus, Yoder gives several examples of this. For instance, he argues it was the Church that first really pursued the concept of hospitals as a means to care for the poor. Indeed, many hospitals still retain a faith-based name or identity (both hospitals here in Waco have Christian roots--Baptist and Catholic). However, as the world saw this form of Christian witness, it eventually caught up and created its own versions of Christian care for the sick. Likewise, victim-offender mediation within the criminal justice system also began with Christians attempting to practice Gospel-informed reconciliation.
If we believe, like Yoder, that the purpose of God within history is the "Creation of the one new humanity" beginning with the community of the Church (Yoder, "A People in the World," 1969), then we must take seriously that how the Church acts does in fact matter.
Embedded within the Bible are beautiful pictures of a Church without borders and without divisions:
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:28-29)
"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." (Rev. 7:9)
"Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves." (Phil. 2:2-3)
"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." (1 Cor. 12:12-13)
The Church is to be that place where we are united. Now, unity does not mean uniformity. We will still have different politics, different skin colors, different theological opinions, and different places in society, but the true Church does not let these things turn into division or dissension.
Imagine the impact on our political discourse if Christians who were Republicans and Democrats sat down together on a regular basis and could talk civilly with each other. Imagine if our churches were less divided along lines of race and political party to begin with. What if Christians practiced humility in their speech and were actually willing to listen to those who have alternate opinions? Evangelicals often talk about the need to be "counter-cultural," but let's be honest, what could be more counter-cultural than this?
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| http://www.cookstownparish.com/category/news/diocesan-and-national-news/ |
However, this is certainly not an easy road. At the same time our nation was being torn apart by a horrific political shooting, the Southern Baptist Convention was stumbling toward its own attempt at racial reconciliation with both success and frustration. Such incidents remind us that this work is often difficult. It's easy to talk, but harder to practice.
Nonetheless, our culture needs the Church to stand up more than ever and be a voice of unity and humility. We need the Church to become the kind of community our country cannot. While the world continues along its path of polarization, the Church must resist that temptation and draw people from both extremes in together through the worship of a Triune God. When the Church models this kind of life--this kind of community--it is a witness to the Kingdom God wants to bring here to earth. However, if even the Church cannot model this community of unity, then we shouldn't hold out much hope to see such unity in the world around us.
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