Peacemaking in Days of Strife

Since you’ve been willing to read my brief squawks for awhile, maybe you’ll indulge me a few thoughts on how people of Jesus might respond to the situation in the U.S. right now. (If you’re not American, please pray for us. I’d also invite you to share with me how you see things from your vantage point.)

1. If your life is so arranged that everyone you know basically agrees with you on stuff, enjoy it. It’s nice to be agreed with. Just don’t be like me and continually chorus, “Those other people are silly dopes!”
2. If you find yourself exposed to, attending church with or going home to folks who see things that matter differently than you do, well, that can be a challenge, no? I love what my friend, Brian Newman, shares in this brief video about the Beatitudes and the radical way following Jesus’s teaching might shape our behavior in these days.
3. Often, but not often enough, I remind myself when people do things I think are crazy: I have no idea the anger and pain they’re dealing with. I haven’t walked their road. If you’re convinced the rug is being pulled out from under your world, that hurts. It’s scary. It can be infuriating.
4. Being a peacemaker means choosing to not win for a long time. Peacemakers will win, to be sure, but that victory may be way out on the horizon. Your peace making efforts won’t change everyone’s mind in a single Wednesday night Bible study, no matter how smugly that would make me feel!
5. Listening is undervalued. It’s tough to listen when “those other people are silly dopes,” but worth the effort. As David Ausberger says, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.”

This should go without saying, except that I need to hear it: If you’re frustrated, stressed, angry, scared or just done with it, don’t take it out on the kids. They didn’t vote for either candidate!