I don’t know much about history but I do know enough to know that these are not even close to the most divided days in our country’s life. Still, it sure can feel like it. Just try talking to your friends and family about Islam, presidential candidates, gun violence, people who identify as LGBTQ in the church, police lives, or black lives and you’ll see what I mean. Even talking about the weather can be a relationship risk because global warming could slip into the conversation! The sad truth is, unless something happens, the future doesn’t look much better. Whoever wins the presidential election will take office with the lowest approval rating ever. That’s going to make for a fun (not) four years on social media. No, these are not the meanest and rudest days in the history of the United States but they sure are wearing me out. I’m tired, very tired, of arguing with people that I love. I’m tired of avoiding conflict by ignoring the elephants (and donkeys) in the room. Somehow, we have to get through this without devouring one another.
It is my strong belief that we are truly in this together and if we can’t find a way to recognize our oneness, the brokenness that we see all around us is our destiny. Scripture teaches it and Aretha sang it when she exhorted us to think about it: “You need me and I need you (don’t cha know), without each other there ain’t nothing we two can do!”
A few days ago a Facebook friend tried to start a dialogue along these lines by asking what we thought we can do to help things. Unfortunately, she stymied my participation when she ruled out my first inclination, which is to pray. She said that her grandmother taught her that, “God doesn’t work through elves at night. If you see something wrong here, likely it is our doing and He expects you to figure it out.” True enough, but I rarely pray for elves and I don’t particularly like prayers that imply that all we need is for God to straighten out all those “other people.” The prayers that I like ask to be shown ways to become a part of the answer. Good prayers ask for the ability to see what needs to be done and the strength to do it. I particularly like prayers like J. Philip Newell’s in Celtic Benediction, “That I may be well in my own soul and part of the world’s healing.” In other words, I appreciate prayers that have a little humility. Those are prayers that change me and when I change, things around me change.
This brings me to today’s text. It’s one that has never been one of my favorites but it popped into my head the other day and the popping was accompanied with an insight that gave it an upgrade in my list of go-to verses. The verse is a pretty familiar one, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)
This hasn’t been a particular favorite for me because, judging by the way some folks use it, the modern paraphrase could be something like, “If those people (you know who we mean) will turn from their wicked ways, we will have a better shot at becoming the nation I want.” But as I pondered it this time around, the word “humble” jumped out at me.
“If my people humble themselves.” What would happen if we humbled ourselves? What would happen if we remembered that our point of view is just that? It’s just our view from our little point on this planet of seven billion people, in this galaxy with its one hundred thousand light year diameter.
When we think about it with clear eyes, the religious fellow that prayed, “I am glad I’m better than everyone else” sounds ridiculous next to the man who prayed, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” (Luke 18:9-14)
Humility. Blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the poor. Graciousness. Mercy. Forgiveness. The 12-step recognition of needing a power beyond ourselves. Seeking more to understand than to be understood. Humble prayer. These are the things that I think will help me be well in my soul and a part of the world’s healing.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have my point of view. I know who I’m going to vote for, I strongly affirm LGBTQ persons as children of God in every way, and I advocate for common sense gun control with my checkbook and through calls to my representatives. But frankly, these are simply my best guesses in a complicated world. What I know, I know, I know, is that He has shown me what is good and what He requires of me is “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8)
The Forest Dweller 