A Pastoral Response to Butler

Two weeks ago, I shared a message with our faith community at John Wesley Methodist Church. My goal was to preach the saving grace of Jesus Christ and guide our congregants to a healthy place of unity in today’s society. We have liberals, conservatives, and everything else sitting in our sanctuary. This is common for most places of worship and every corner coffee shop in America. I do not see this as a weakness, I see this as a strength. And my God is big enough to handle healthy diversity. The first century church was so diverse and unified between gentiles and Jews that it shocked and intrigued people in a positive way.

The following are some of my comments from my sermon put into written form with some added commentary in reaction to yesterday's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump by a young twenty-year-old man. If we continue to look to social media, news, politicians, government, the state of the union, and think-tanks to unite our country, it will never happen. More on this below.

In today's America, stark disagreements define our landscape, dividing political parties, the press, and the public on crucial topics like race, gender, immigration, the economy, international policy, climate change, and many others.

Every day, social media, politicians, and the press manufacture panic, using fear-mongering as their primary tactic. They proclaim that the USA is a divided country on the brink of civil war and that we are hopelessly divided. This narrative is not just pessimistic—it's evil.
It is evil because it creates what happened yesterday at a political rally. Do you really believe that democracy will be destroyed and our country will be ruled by a dictatorship if a billionaire from New York City is elected again? Seriously, that is the most extreme and outrageous rhetoric, but it gets young people and older people to listen. It gets them to vote against someone or for someone else. It creates a social environment of extremes which causes young and old to take extreme measures. The answer is not more division; it is to unite. This is the time for the church to show people how to unite. Our Christian Nation will not show people how to unite, plain and simple.

Think about who benefits from division. The truth is, division benefits no one except the devil, social media clicks, and power-hungry politicians. Both left and right establishments play this game, but it's the people who suffer. You might be saying, “No, we are fighting against the evil things that people are trying to do.” Well, it isn’t working, and falling for the “Us vs Them” narrative is not going to stop anyone on the “them” side. To those who call themselves Christian, it displays a weak faith, not a strong fighting faith.

Friends, beware of the deceit from the evil one, spreading false truths or extreme fear-mongering. The most dangerous thing is it creates the belief that “if two of us don't agree 100%, one of us must be wrong.” This mentality only deepens our divisions.

It's time to reject this divisive rhetoric and seek common ground. Does common ground take accommodating? Yes, it does! But accommodating is not unchristian! It is actually Christ-like. Jesus was always accommodating sinners and saints for unity. Change takes time, and it is about the heart, not about behavior modification.

To all Americans, we must prevail over fear and discord. To fellow Christians and people of faith, let's work together to build a stronger, more united nation even if the enemy seeks to kill and destroy.  Be careful what you fight for and how you fight for it. You are shaping society and future generations with your rhetoric, priorities and actions.

As Christians, our actions should reflect our faith. Acting out of division shows not strength, but weakness; it portrays our God as small. John Maxwell reminds us, “There's a critical difference between disagreement and disrespect.” Our issue is not with disagreement or diversity but with disrespect. When we let people create a climate of disrespect, we turn people into zombies (living dead). How do you kill zombies? You shoot them in the head because they aren’t really people. We have allowed people to influence our children and all generations with extreme division. This only builds bigger and bigger walls. These walls hinder churches and christian's witness.

I believe God is big enough to put our faith in. He is big enough for us to live a life with Christ-like faith which in turn will transform other people (and our society). This approach will better reflect the strength and greatness of our God.

You might have made it all the way to the bottom of this response.  You might be thinking to yourself “but…”. Of course there is a but…because we have allowed the evil one to pierce our hearts and minds with fear and division. Jesus said over and over “Do not be afraid!”

I ask you to have faith in the God of the universe and the Kingdom principles He set up in the gospels. Read Matthew 5, 6 and 7 (Sermon on the Mount) and create a spiritual, emotional and mental response to what I have said and to what we are witnessing.