Shame and Grace II

... those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

- from 1 John 4

A Person on Social Media (PSM) talks a lot about "love." She calls out her "brothers and sisters" in the Church for not expressing love. Love, she contends, must be practiced in exactly the way she practices it, by voting as she does, and advocating the same political positions. 

She is particularly fond of taking aim at the so-called "Religious Right." She points out hypocrisy from Christians . . . she points the finger at people sitting just down the same pew that she occupies. (I should say, used to occupy . . . for she has removed herself from her heretofore steady Church experience.)

If you kept count, it's possible that she points out "hypocrisy" way more than she does "love." Hypocrisy is a theme and she affects herself an expert . . . yet I have not once seen her walk on water. 

Let me rephrase one of my earlier statements.

She does not "call out" her brothers and sisters. She shames them.

It's always about the lack of love in others. She can tell you all about WWJD, and shine a light on anybody that is not WWJDing. Shame is her game. If she can find a human not practicing love in the way that she does (in her political positions), she will shame that person on Social Media. 

Church unity? Not important. She needs her party to win.

Her steady drumbeat is always in forward movement. And occasionally, she will add a cymbal crash to her refrain, in the form of a variant of this statement:

I despise him!

And you can probably identify who "him" is.

But, if you "despise" him . . . you are, by association, despising members of his "team." Many members of this "team" are in your Church. They are in your family; your neighborhood; your workplace. You say "Well . . . of course I don't despise them! I know the difference!"

It doesn't matter what you think. They feel despised. Remember "feelings"?

This is the problem with politics. If your political views separate you from your elders, your family, your kids, your neighbors, you're on the wrong side of history. The true progressive motion of history is a coming together of humanity. It's the opposite of entropy. 

Of course the person described above is a composite of many people, on both sides of the political aisle. Also, of course, the reader pictured someone they know, while reading it. 

=============================================================

The only Resistance needed in our culture, is a resistance to the "shaming" culture. We are called to love our brothers and sisters. And that means . . . everybody. 

Today, April 27, 2018, I reached the tipping point in my disgust with shaming. I hope that I can begin resisting it. I hope that I can stand up to people caught up in it. 

Disagreement is okay. Disagreement is good. But the response to it should not be to shame others on-line, where multitudes of people can gang up as "likers" of shaming posts. It's impossible to do this, while loving God. 

===============================================================

For years, I've known a man, a real person; and I've known him through the Church and family connections. He came from the Greatest Generation, a quiet man, educated not in college, but in hard knocks. He built a home for his family; worked hard and saved his money. He contributed to charities, and was always cheerful in welcoming guests into his home.

He's not charismatic. He's not flashy and does not draw attention to himself. 

But when he's called on to do announcements, or share a testimony, teach a Sunday school class, or say a public prayer, his words and delivery are touched with humility, kindness and wisdom. 

It's powerful. I have always said I'd rather here a ten minute sermonette by this man, than a fiery thirty-minute homily by a seminary-educated silver-tongued preacher. Any day. Because, in my view, sincerity counts way more than glibness. 

You'll never hear him say he "despises" anybody. And yet, he is on that "team", if you will.

People wonder why I defend "that" politician and his "team." It's because so many men like the one I described are on that team. And when you attack any member of that team . . . all I can see is your finger pointing at good people like my friend. Your condescending denunciations of the character, intelligence, and ethical standing of their standard-bearer sounds like a personal attack on legions of good men and women. 

Why do they support "him"? It's not my business. But considering the character of those people that I know . . . I have enough sense to think there's something to all of it. If I don't get it, maybe I'm missing something. 

Your practice of godly love requires you to put up with . . . even . . . him. The good people out there, that can't stop in their denunciations of "him," need to stop and realize it's not just "him" they're attacking. 

Let's have godly love.

Let's start reining in those attack dogs. I promise you . . . I promise you . . . that the result will be far better than we know. And it will feel a lot better than the bitterness of hate.

Even if you believe it's your responsibility to hate.