Dazed and Confused
Last Sunday, Pastor Bo led us through a challenging week, inviting us into a better way: the way of Jesus. She cautioned us to avoid “mainlining hate.” For those of you with a less checkered past than some, “mainlining” refers to injecting illicit drugs directly into one’s bloodstream, a move that enhances the destructive power of their immediate effect.
Mainlining hate, despair, rage, and all manner of corrosive content is far too easy these days. Insanely nimble algorithms keep us glued to a continual train wreck of uncivil society. And, to Pastor Bo’s point, we are tempted to “conform to the pattern of this world.”
I understand how we can get sucked into that. We regularly endure parades of violence, like those we’ve seen since mid-June until now. We can be “…dazed and confused for so long, it’s not true.” We don’t want the senseless evil of it all to end: from the assassination of the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Melissa Hortman, to the senseless killing of a young woman, Iryna Zarutska, on Charlotte light rail — from deadly school shootings in Minneapolis and Evergreen — to the recent murder of Charlie Kirk. We are reeling.
People are understandably sad and hurting. They want the world to make sense, and they are desperate for relief. All too often, though, that relief includes demonizing “those people.” “They.” “Them.” The ones who don’t agree with us. Who aren’t a part of us. That’s the way of our modern world: find your tribe, keep to your own, stay safe, and fight the others.
All too often, those fault lines have run down the middle of churches. People haven’t divided recently over heresy or morality. Most have divided over debatable public policy and political allegiances. Or, because one victim or another of an evil, senseless tragedy receives too little or too much attention. This breaks my heart.
Fortunately, the Scriptures have something to say about all of this. In a word, it’s unity. From the “One accord” declarations at the Church’s birth in Jerusalem and straight through all of Paul’s letters, we repeatedly see the essential unity of Christ’s Body. This is never more direct than in the Letter to the Ephesians:
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. — Ephesians 4:3-6
We don’t have to agree with one another completely to strive for unity. In fact, the way 4:3-6 is written assumes our unity requires the kind of effort that puts mutual love ahead of seamless agreement. Ask almost any pastor, and they’ll tell you that for nearly a decade, the Church seems unable, or unwilling, to embrace the effort.
So, let’s gather and pray together for unity in the Body:
- Unity around the uncontested Lordship of Jesus Christ
- Unity that is shaped by the teachings of Jesus and the Spirit
- Unity that stems from love, love of one’s neighbor AND one’s enemy
- Unity that transcends worldly divisions
- Unity that models beloved community to a desperate world, and to a global church that is confused and saddened by a bickering U.S. church to which they look for leadership
Love ya!
Pastor Steve