what do we do now?

To say it’s been a hard few weeks is a gross understatement.

While we don’t all grieve the same, the heaviness of those horrific events cannot be missed. We feel it. It’s agonizing… disorienting. We want answers. We want solutions. We want the evil to stop. 

So how?

How do we deal with what we feel? How do we process the pain due to current events?

Let us respectfully continue with the candor… I wish I knew. I wish I knew how to make it better. I wish I knew how to stop the madness, end the evil, and make the world go round without all the violence. I know I’m not alone in that. As we’ve witnessed a wide range of wholesome and unwholesome reactions in recent weeks, it feels like a watershed moment; it’s a pivotal turning point marking a significant event, after which things are never the same.

And here’s what I believe to be reality. If things are never going to be the same again, that means they could get worse. Or…

… they could get better.

My heartfelt desire is for things to get better… and to be an active contributor to the better.

I thus am renewed in my striving for two primary things. Let me be clear; sometimes I’ve done them well. Sometimes I’ve totally screwed them up, but I strive to grow. Actually, one is something I do. The other is something I don’t. Let’s start with the don’t…

When encouraging how to make things better, let me not make the subject of any suggestion about somebody else, i.e., you need to stop… you need to start… you need to recognize… In other words let me never take all onus off of me, as I realize many days, my bias, my ignorance, and/or my unwillingness to learn more or listen to another contributes to the problem. This is not the problem of other people; this is for me; this is the collective problem of us all. When I absolve myself of all wrongdoing — or minimize me and maximize another — I am not making things better.

As for what I do…

I bow.

I lower my head, quiet my heart and pray. It’s not some rote thoughts and prayers exercise. It’s a deliberate humbling, an admission that I don’t have all the answers and need way more than me. Let’s face it; the greatest wisdom is not found in any political bent, party or person on the left or the right. My prayers remind me where the greatest wisdom comes from, as I simultaneously recognize God’s omnipotence and my powerlessness. 

My prayers also are an attempt to align my thoughts with the Most High God’s. Let’s be honest — and I’ll try not to throw anyone else under the bus with me — but after a week like the last, I’ve had many thoughts that I know don’t align with him and his teaching. I need more. I need more than me and my earthly way of thinking.

Clearly I’m not alone in that recognition, noting evidence of the watershed before us. Last weekend, churches nationwide experienced a significant surge in attendance, particularly among younger generations. We are looking for something; we are looking for more.

We want somewhere or someone we can come to where’s there’s lasting potential to wrestle with our grief, pain and disorientation. We want a place where we may actually find answers to our questions — a place far bigger than politics. We want where love is obvious, grace is generous, and agreement is secondary to honor of all. Politics is so shallow, friends. No disrespect; it’s simply incomplete in answering life’s biggest questions.

In this moment, we crave to know so much and more:

Those are great places to begin… individually and together.

Genuinely…

AR