EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on July 7, 2023.
By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks
One of the lessons that is most vexing for Christians is that Jesus stood in solidarity with everyone. Regardless of who they were.
Those on the margins, and those privileged to be at the center of powerful human institutions. The street beggar, and the Roman soldier. Tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen, wedding revelers, Pharisees, the list goes on.
Jesus’ central message was about solidarity among everyone, meaning there is only one body of Christ, all intertwined and connected through the Holy Trinity.
However, being human, we tend to forget that inconvenient truth when we subjectively insert Jesus into our public debates. … For some reason, we tend to believe that Jesus is always on our side.
But, is he? … Our scriptures tell us differently.
I was reminded of this after reading a New York Times story this week. Our public narrative is that the early years of the pandemic were a divisive time, pitting the “Left” against the “Right.” Conservatives against liberals. Blue states against red.
But the Times story points out that in the new essay “Lessons From the Covid War, an Investigative Report,” written by 34 experts and published by PublicAffairs, the public’s perception of the “contentious” Covid years is almost entirely wrong.
The story reads: “For almost all of the first year of the pandemic, there was essentially no policy difference at all between red states and blue states. … Business restrictions were almost uniform across the country through the summer and fall of 2020, as were masking guidance and even school policy.”
It was only later during the 2020 presidential election that the rhetoric and heat surrounding the pandemic got turned way up, and THAT is what we collectively remember. Not the early unity in the initial fight.
But indeed, first, there was public solidarity in the Covid fight, and who is to say that the Holy Spirit wasn’t playing a critical role in all of it? And then later, we allowed our human selfishness to later ruin the work of the Spirit? … As faithful people, we need to consider that.
Post-Covid there still are plenty of other public issues that threaten to divide us, that give us the opportunity to choose sides. Gun violence, record drug overdoses, an affordable housing crisis, and on and on. Issue after issue on which we can take a stand, and point out why others are wrong.
But that wasn’t Jesus’ way, much to the disappointment of many. Jesus’ way was through solidarity, through love for all.
In fact, this might be the most troubling aspect of Jesus for many Christians: Jesus didn’t attempt to fix anything. He only loved, and loved everyone.
Maybe it’s time that we give up our efforts at fixing the other side, and trust that Jesus’ way is more effective. How about we just love everybody? And invite the Holy Spirit to help us. Amen.
Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He also works for Forum Communications Co. He can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com for comments and story ideas.
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