Taking Sides

I've decided to take sides . . . in the middle. As I read through two newspapers this morning, watched the "Today" show for a bit while getting ready for work, then glanced down the Facebook posts, I am more and more convinced that what once passed as Conservatism or Liberalism is now rapidly becomeing Right-Wing Conservatism and Left-Wing Liberalism: "You are either with us or you're not", "You a...re either right or you are wrong", "You either agree with us specifically or you disagree with us completely" . . . and I am tired of the bullying, I am disgusted by the tactics. Political party affiliation is being thrown up at others, both ways, as though such affiliation is the entree to the Kingdom. Sorry, my friends, I have found little evidence of any political party being given the priority in the Gospels. Participation in a political party can assist to accomplish goals, but it can also be the hammer to silence genuine empathetic healing dialogue in the midst of the peoples. What I am hearing and seeinig, from Christians and non-Christians alike, is simply not Christ-like. Words and behaviors are just not matching up with the stated motives.

My understanding of Jesus of Nazareth is that He stood in the middle, both as fulfillment of the Law and Prophets and as contemporary Mediator of God's grace. Yes, Jesus stands with the marginalized in every generation and, yes, God's priority is always for the disenfranchised around us, but never to the exclusion of the rest of God's people. God spoke to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration and said, "Listen to him!", which requires both our attentiveness to His teachings and a heart to follow.Listen to Him . . . as the crowds gather round Him on the Mount and He begins to teach. Listen to Him . . . as He sits in the middle, in the midst of the disciples, and says my Body, my Blood. Listen to Him . . . as His cross stands in the middle between the thieves and He says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Listen to Him, as He stands in the middle and says see my wounds, place your finger in my side.

Listen to Him . . . I am choosing to take sides in the middle, with Jesus. The polarizing rhetoric being shouted out from both sides is doing more to injure and alienate than to heal and restore community. Yes, the issues are real and people of faith have to take a stand, but I would rather stand in the middle with Jesus any day, than be found on one side believing my own thoughts to be right, yet moving farther and farther away from His voice in my ears.

I will not disrespect the choices others make, but as for me, standing in the middle with Jesus isn't an 'either-or" choice, it is a 'both-and' for Christian liturgical and social justice behavior as I live into the Spirit's Baptism and strive to announce the nearness of the Kingdom. I now pray for the faith and strength such choices require of us all.