Politics

I do not identify with being liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat: I find it takes enough time to try to live my life loving others and figuring out what it means to be a Christian and to follow Jesus. The practical implications are astounding. But the government is a tool to use wisely, not to make up for the lack of what you yourself are willing to do. It is a tool to not take lightly- and so I vote when my mom reminds me it is time to vote.

But here is what it comes down to: police are being disrespected, and race is an issue because we the church have failed the black community- we have made Sunday morning the most segregated hour of the week.

Gay marriage is an issue because we the church have failed the gay community. We have not loved them. We have not welcomed them. We have not said that we will stand with them in their successes and failures as they learn what it means to be a Christian.

The Duggars are an issue because we the church have remained too silent on abuse/abusers and porn. Abortion and feminism is an issue because we the church have not stood with women in their hard times and embraced adoption as beautiful. Refugees/Immigration is an issue because we have not opened our homes- would you house a refugee? Healthcare is an issue because we the church have not cared for the sick.

And I know I am preaching to the choir, and perhaps you are offended by these words because they are not true for you. But they have often been true for me. The bottom line isn’t what person will become president, it is will I open my home and my life and be vulnerable and LOVE others. Others defined as the police, people of other races, GLBT, sex offenders, adulterers, abortionists, feminists, refugees, migrants, the sick and smelly: Democrats and Republicans and the rest of us lost somewhere in the middle or on some end.

I am telling myself to do it instead of fighting against the government doing it (conservative end), and I am telling myself to do it instead of making the government do it for me (liberal end).  To my political friends - tell me what you are for, not what you are against. Tell me what you are doing to make the world a better place - not what is sending this world to hell. And no matter how ignorant or rude you think someone who disagrees with you is, that does not give you the right to berate, threaten, or in general be mean to them. Show me you are bigger by loving them.