For weeks I\u2019ve averred that I\u2019m not all that concerned about Nov. 3rd. I\u2019ve been more concerned about Nov. 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We knew this day would come. We didn\u2019t know exactly how yesterday would turn out \u2014 we still don’t \u2014 but earnestly welcoming the wide emotional spectrum amid our collective hearts this day, it\u2019s time for a respectful, blunt, sincere but sobering conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How does a culture \u2014 which has chosen to treat each other so poorly \u2014 change their insolent activity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve watched friends shame friends. We\u2019ve seen spouses disparage spouses. We\u2019ve been lured into one of the more destructive impacts of social media by sitting behind our insulating keyboards, feeling now emboldened to say face-to-face to another what we previously knew to be inapt. Insult has become acceptable. Offense has become commonplace. Opinion has become news. And social media has become nothing short of a 21st Century landmine field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All sorts of dishonoring behavior has been justified\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All in the name of politics.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, politics matter. Politics matter because politics affect people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But something matters more…<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a land where the self-evident truth is that all persons are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, we are called to love who our Creator created.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such is the same call to love our neighbor well… regardless of who our neighbor actually is. <\/em>Our \u201cneighbor\u201d is anyone God has allowed in our path. That means the person who lives next to you\u2026 sits at the table with you\u2026 checks you out at the grocery store… befriends you on social media, etc. Note that the imperative to \u201clove your neighbor well\u201d has nothing to do with how another looks, thinks, or votes. It is also not conditional nor selective, meaning we only have to love some<\/em> of our neighbors well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason, therefore, the Intramuralist has been more concerned about the 4th than the 3rd is because this season has not been societally healthy. How do we move forward?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearly, based on yesterday’s incomplete results, we are an evenly divided, political country \u2014 50\/50. Half and half. It is not noble nor plausible to suggest we simply shame or demean the other half for why they think like they do. Yet we have been increasingly lured into thinking that’s ok \u2014 into justifying the belief that it\u2019s ok not<\/em> to love them… that it\u2019s ok to tune them out, disrespect them \u2014 that it’s totally acceptable and possibly even necessary to dishonor them, to dishonor those who don’t think like “me.” Friends, we are dishonoring those we do not understand. Writes author Scott Sauls in his recently released A Gentle Answer:<\/em> \u201cI\u2019ve grown increasingly perplexed over what feels like a culture of suspicion, mistrust, and us-against them. Whatever the subject may be \u2014 politics, sexuality, immigration, income gaps, women\u2019s concerns, race, or any other social concerns over which people have differences \u2014 Angst, suspicion, outrage, and outright hate increasingly shape our response to the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Us-against them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our culture is encouraging dishonor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our culture is fueling the fire, encouraging us to individually determine if another is deserving of our attention and esteem. It\u2019s baiting us into believing that the different don\u2019t deserve it. And the minute we decide that another doesn\u2019t deserve to be honored, it says more about us than about them, as we have chosen not to love another well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do not dismiss that this is hard. Not at all. I have walked with many who are in some intensely challenging situations. But my encouragement \u2014 which is undoubtedly counter-cultural \u2014 is to navigate through the hard in order to get to what is better. Our insolent activity is not<\/em> what\u2019s better. And in my semi-humble opinion, if we do not choose to change the way we respond and interact with one another, life will indeed get worse. If we wish to continue to exist as a country in which God still sheds His grace on thee, crowning thy good with brotherhood, we need to start now to build what yes, is clearly better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the keen comments of Sauls\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBuilding something beautiful together will require participation from all sides. For those who are prone to injure, the call is to repent and to engage in the noble work of renouncing hatred and exercising love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those who are vulnerable to becoming injured, the call is to participate in the noble work of resisting bitter and retaliating roots of anger while embracing truth-telling, advocacy, and forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For all of us, the universal call is to lay down our swords, listen, learn from our differences, and build something beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No doubt such a course change will take humility and gentleness. It will take pause, patience, and intentionality. It means a commitment to what matters most and a resistance to a culture that encourages what\u2019s lesser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s November 4th. Join me. It\u2019s time to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For weeks I\u2019ve averred that I\u2019m not all that concerned about Nov. 3rd. I\u2019ve been more concerned about Nov. 4th. We knew this day would come. We didn\u2019t know exactly how yesterday would turn out \u2014 we still don’t \u2014 but earnestly welcoming the wide emotional spectrum amid our collective hearts this day, it\u2019s time … <\/p>\n
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