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Monday, November 08, 2004
A House Divided
Abraham Lincoln gets the credit. But Jesus said it first.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." (Matthew 12:25)
In context Jesus was deflecting accusations that his miracles were the work of the devil. If so, wouldn't Satan be a fool? He'd be splitting his family into factions, short circuiting his plan to take over the world. No, said Jesus, neither he nor the devil was that dumb.
Lincoln picked up the phrase to motivate support for continued national union, challenged as it was by insurgent support for states' rights and slave labor. Not everybody accepted his rallying cry, of course. The civil war literally pitted brother against brother for four long years.
Today I saw two maps of our country. One showed a vast territory filled with red, trimmed on each coast with blue, the results of our national election. The other showed red and tan areas more or less overlaid on the other map's red region. That map dates from Lincoln's era, the red and tan representing slave states and territories open to slavery.
I wonder what the comparison is supposed to mean. But that's not my chief concern just now.
Today I resonate with the words of Jesus and Honest Abe. Our country and our churches are a house dangerously divided.
Perhaps the greatest danger is the way so many people skirted serious political conversation during the presidential campaign.
Most of us felt free among like-minded souls to tell the truth about what we thought, how we felt, what we wanted from our leaders. But how many felt equal freedom to differ out loud with people on the other side?
Many simply kept their peace (some peace!), tried to be polite, forfeiting dialogue for stereotypes. The line of least resistance made us crooked as a river.
I'm not sure if the American separation of church and state made it happen, or if we simply lost confidence that sincere faith doesn't always lead to agreement on how to be faithful.
The Republican embrace of certain moral watchwords, applying them to specific controversial public issues, silenced vocal opposition by Christians who respectfully disagreed. The Democrats' secular vocabulary made it hard for Christians to express agreement with their policies in the language of faith.
As a result brothers and sisters talked past each other, or just didn't speak at all. About matters of national and global magnitude. About matters of life and death. About matters of liberty and justice for all.
Our house is divided. Now, today, we need to lean together into the work of repairing the foundation, of rebuilding a secure home for everyone who wants God's best for our country -- and for the world.
Not so sure about shared goals? Afraid of arguments or rejection? Welcome to the family!
What's most important is our absolute need for each other, with all our differences included. Talk to me honestly and listen the same way. Argue your case and consider mine. Trust me, work with me, and teach me why we differ when we do.
Let's be done with polite silence when it's time to tell the truth.
posted by Jack Buckley at
10:02 AM
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