We have seen it coming for decades, as the angry division between Americans has grown from student unrest to abortion wars, to a greater division between the have’s and have-nots, the reds and the blues, Black Lives Matter and the police, Islamic terrorists and everyone else, between races and between creeds. We are no longer “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” but the land of the angry and the home of the ‘**** you.’ We even fight over our national anthem and whether it honors the sacrifice people have made to make us free or endorses an oppressive system of the abuse of power.
As Michael Kelly Blanchard wrote in his lyrics,
“In these days of confused situation,
In these nights of a restless remorse,
When the heart and the soul of a nation
Lay wounded and cold as a corpse…”
Our current political situation has only contributed to the madness, with our candidates calling each other names like children rather than calling the nation to rise to integrity and healing. Even though we are not in a geographical Civil War, as in 1861, we are most certainly in an ideological one. Our disagreements about values and morality have taken us not only to irreconcilable differences, but also to a division that may possibly lead to violence and division.
What we as Christians must never compromise, however, is our dedication to live out our faith like lights in the darkness no matter what is happening in “Rome.” Remember that our commission, no matter one’s political leaning, is to be people of grace, not of vindictive hatred. If anyone should rise up and set a new standard of unity, integrity, and charity, it should be the Christian Church. With the divisions in our country like the Grand Canyon (but without the layers and the beauty), we are the ones with the true message of healing and peace.