Right Versus Left? Election Postmortem

If you are anything like me your head is swimming after this historic election cycle that set new highs and lows of just about every kind. I’ll be making no statement on who I think should have “won” but I would like to make some observations and applications.

The vote that finally and mercifully came 595 days after the marathon started painted a very distinct picture of America. The cities were nearly all blue and nearly everything else was red. A friend of mine noted the stark contrast and asked the question “Why are rural Americans more conservative than urban ones?” It’s an interesting question. I’m not going to answer it. It is enough for the purpose of my observations to recognize that the divide between conservative America (Republicans) and liberal America (Democrats) is an urban/rural divide.

The media and tradition convinced everyone there were only two options. I applaud the 4 million + voters who knew better and had the courage to vote otherwise.

This reality is significant especially if you are a Christian and I’ll show you why. Jesus was a man. He lived in the real world surrounded by culture and politics. His own culture was deeply divided between the conservatives (Pharisees) and liberals (Sadducees). The Sadducees tended to be more urban and largely controlled the political leadership of Judah. The Pharisees were more rural and starkly conservative. The two groups hated each other. They couldn’t have been more opposed to each other. Social pressures, culture, etc… demanded you identify as one or the other. However there were other smaller groups, those who refused to be one or the other. Whether I agree with those who stand apart from the either/or mainstream I respect their independent spirit and willingness to think for themselves.

Here is the rub. In America most Christians think Jesus is Republican. In reality the conservatives were as zealous if not more zealous to kill Jesus than the liberals were. In the end they conspired together to try and snuff Him out. In the end for all the opposition and hatred between the right and left, they became one to dispose of Jesus.

What has been will be again, there is nothing new under the sun… (Eccl. 1:9)

Today I went to my children’s school for the Remembrance Day service. My son’s grade made a presentation that literally reduced me to tears. While a slide show of images from all over the world played in the background to the song “Let There Be Peace on Earth” each student held up a poster with a phrase on it. Each phrase was their contribution to what they would aspire to do to maintain peace on earth.

I looked at those grand ideals which are really just basic human decency and I thought “How many of those values were modeled in the 595 day election campaign? How many of them will be modeled in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead by the new president elect?

If I have learned anything from both being a child and observing children grow up, it is that we learn from what people do, not what they say. Did you know American men stopped wearing fedoras because JFK didn’t wear one and that Teddy Bears became popular because of Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt?

Yesterday a young woman was exposed to the rants of a young man making fun of all the whining women who didn’t vote for the current president elect. He even suggested that maybe they needed to be grabbed by the “v@&!^a”. Who modeled that? Who gave him permission to behave in such a brash and rude way?

Truth is above politics. It’s above the clash between the right and left. It is higher, better, outside, and beyond the noise. Truth is a lonely place. It is a place where a person loves the right and the left but is usually hated by both. It’s where Jesus walked. I encourage you, implore you, beg you to walk with Him in that sacred space that values all people and seeks healing and understanding over being right and pushing an agenda. I cried because my son stood there with his class with a simple message, a beautiful message, a message that finds no space in the news cycle and is less and less in the hearts of the men and women who are held up as our leaders. What kind of future will they face? What world has my son inherited?

Make no mistake, I will pray for the success and growth of every leader. I will obey in every way I can. I’m just asking you to seek a better mentor. Look up. Jesus is a role model like no other. Follow Him.

***If you weren't able to read all the posters here is what they said left to right:

Be unbiased

Say kind words

Be content

Accept others

Be loving

Have a happy heart

Be understanding

Include people

Be kind

Love

Be happy for others

Try try try again

Be honest

Be supportive

Have a flexible mindset

Safe in our Silos

'They' say it's never good to begin with an apology but I must. A few weeks ago I posted some controversial articles on my Facebook wall. They were posted with the caveat that I would not be commenting on either the articles themselves or any comments made about the articles. What people didn't know is that the articles were essentially bait for a social experiment. To those who found themselves in the "trap" I apologize but there was no other way to do it. You can't test people's raw reactions if you warn them first. I did expect some heated comments but I was not expecting to have people unfriend me and block me when I never even stated if I agreed or disagreed with the articles.

The articles were related to the topic of transsexuality. Definitely a current and very divisive issue. However there was no reason why I chose that topic other than the reasons mentioned. I knew it would spark a reaction and it did.

But I'm not here to talk about that issue or any other specific issue. I'm here to talk about our inability to truly discuss issues. I'm here to expose our increasingly thin skin. Our need to attack first and ask questions later if we ever ask them at all. I remember when I was a child hearing adults say "you never discuss politics or religion". What that really translates to is that we don't discuss anything of a sensitive or potentially divisive nature at all. In an increasingly complex culture where does that leave us? It leaves us in silos.

I am a Seventh-day Adventist pastor which labels me so heavily before I say a word that discussion is pretty much impossible. However I believe we're so entrenched in our own silos that it wouldn't matter what my labels were. We tolerate like minds only and even then we are guarded. There is so much anger. I am learning anger is often rooted in fear or pain. It means a nerve has been touched and since we have no skills to process divisive issues we simply respond with anger.

I used to think anger, attacks, and judging were signs of immaturity that educated people were above. Surely with degrees involving classes in psychology and sociology we can interact with other minds that don't think exactly like ours and come away more informed if not enriched by the experience. However I am not finding that to be the case. Those with multiple degrees and years of experience seem as prone to building silos and reacting with anger as anyone else. In fact in some cases it is even worse. It seems some use education not as a vehicle to broaden the mind but rather to narrow it, reading books and articles and studies that only affirm what they already believed before they did any "research".

One of the articles I posted was from a long tenured chair at John's Hopkins but that didn't matter at all to those who disagreed with his views and research based article. He was called a crackpot and worse. Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying he was right or that the study he referenced was the only or best research on the topic. However for an educated person to counter the work of another educated person it should involve counter points, alternate research, and a level of mutual respect. This is the point. It's not about who is right or wrong. The idea that any of us are 100% right about anything is pretty arrogant if not at least suspect. Can't we at least listen?

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. When I was in high school our English/History class spent a couple of months with our classroom set up as a model of Parliament. Each student was given a riding where they served as the MP. The conservatives were in power at the time and the Liberals were the official opposition. Each class we began with question period as they do in Ottawa when the house is in session. Sometimes we got a little unruly and were a tad on the immature side. After the two months of class we took a field trip to Ottawa and sat in on a parliamentary session. I was shocked. I expected them to behave with class and decorum but they were more immature and out of line than we were. They acted as though their sole role was to sling mud at each other and discredit and disrespect each other. Perhaps that was an usually bad day on the Hill. Maybe there was a full moon.

Sadly I am not inclined to believe it was an exception. Our last leading party ran attack ads when it wasn't even election time. South of the border we don't have to look or listen very long to see how low our leaders will sink in their endeavour to convince us they are the best.

Is this what we have come to? We think ourselves wise and advanced. We imagine that society is evolving in intellect and culture but the evidence is lacking.

We can't even have conversations. We can't even entertain an idea that falls outside of our silo of "truth". We behave as if all would be well in the world if everyone thought like the guy or gal in our mirror. Here in Alberta almost 90000 people were displaced because of a horrific forest fire and some thought it the perfect launching pad to get on their soap box and beat their favourite political or religious drum. Seriously?

Now before anyone leaves thinking I'm all self righteous let me be the first to say that the church has probably done more to model silo building and intolerance than any body/institution/organization on the planet. It is hardly a new phenomenon. The Bible describes grown men, religious and political leaders, plugging their ears and throwing a tantrum like a child who didn't want to eat his peas or hear his mom ask him to any more. Actually their behaviour was far worse than a child.

I'm not naive. I don't expect this blog to change the world. What I can say is that reflecting on these realities has certainly shifted my own compass a little and I can only hope it will get one or two others to consider leaving their silos or at least peering out with open eyes and listening ears.

"There are none so blind as those who will not see."

John Heywood, 1546

Guilt – Good, Bad, or Ugly?

There are two kinds of guilt. One is imposed by others when they believe you have committed an offense: “You are guilty.” The other is a feeling that occurs within us when we have committed an offense. It is this second kind of guilt we’ll be addressing.

According to a blog on Psychology Today called ‘What Does Guilt Do?’: “If you do something wrong that hurts someone else, you feel guilty.  Guilt is a valuable emotion, because it helps to maintain your ties to the people in your community.  It provides a painful consequence for actions that would weaken the groups that you belong to.

Because guilt is painful, people often find ways to soothe their feelings by making up for their actions in some way.  These repairs are also useful, because they help to re-strengthen people’s ties to the community that they have damaged.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201205/what-does-guilt-do

Guilt is healthy or more accurately can be healthy. Like pain sensors in our skin that tell us not to touch a hot stove, guilt is like the pain sensor for our conscience. It lets us know we have done something wrong and it should never be repeated.

The referenced article above goes on to explain with controlled experiments that guilt causes us to try and make amends. Here is where the waters get murky.

If I take something from you I can give it back or pay you back or make it “right” in some fashion. If the offense is small the issue is usually quickly forgotten by both parties and life goes on. When I was a kid I wanted a Nintendo. My parents said I could have one on two conditions. First I had to buy it myself which was no small feat, and secondly I could not have any games that involved violence.  Both conditions were eventually met and I got my game system.

A few months later we came home to find the house had been broken into and my Nintendo was gone. We had never been robbed before. The fact someone came into our home and took our stuff left a far worse feeling than the loss of the actual items. Replacing the things did not negate the feeling of being violated.

Here’s the issue. Some of the actions (or inactions) we do that hurt others and cause us guilt can’t be made right. Murderers can’t ‘unkill’ their victims. Sexual predators can’t ‘unviolate’ their victims. Hurtful, abusive words or actions can’t be unsaid or undone. This poses a very real problem. What can a person do to escape guilt from a situation they can’t correct?

Perhaps you heard or read of Corporal Withers who was recently awarded a medal by the queen of England for his military service yet he is suicidal. He feels guilty for simply being alive after all the buddies he has seen die around him. It is a scenario he can’t fix. Nothing he can do will bring them back, not even his own death.

This is one example of how guilt which is generally healthy can become toxic. What do we do when guilt consumes us? The Bible is full of stories of individuals consumed by guilt over things that can’t be made right. One mother loses her son to an illness and interprets it as punishment from God for things she has done in the past. A group of brothers sell their younger brother as a slave to a foreign country after nearly leaving him for dead in an abandoned well. The guilt consumes them. Every misfortune that happens to them afterwards is seen as divine retribution for their guilt.

I’ve been there. I still have flashbacks. When you do something that violates everything you want to be and hurts people in a way that can’t be corrected the guilt is crushing. You want to rewind the tape. You want to undo the damage but it isn’t possible. In July of 2001 I was driving to pick up my wife from work. I hit a pothole and my cell phone fell from the console to the floor between my feet. I instinctively reached down to pick it up and the next thing I experienced was a violent crash. The truck in front of me stopped. It was a stupid decision to look away from the road to grab the phone. Regret didn’t rewind the crash.

Here’s the bottom line. Trying to right what can’t be righted is insanity or will eventually lead to insanity. What then? If wrongs can’t be righted what can be done?

As a pastor I would say (without any data to back it up other than experience) that unresolved guilt is the leading burden carried by people. Whether it be guilt from poor parenting, or affairs, or divorce, or whatever the case may be, the source of the guilt might be four or more decades in the past but the weight of it is heavier than it was at the beginning. Have you ever tried to hold something heavy for a long amount of time? The weight of the object never changes but it sure gets heavier doesn’t it?

God has a solution. It’s called forgiveness. It doesn’t erase the event(s) but it does erase the burden of guilt caused by the event(s). For the woman thinking God killed her son to pay her back, He restored her son’s life. For the brothers, God brought the sold brother back into their lives and he showed them mercy instead of revenge. For us God sent His Son to die before we even said we were sorry, to demonstrate He values us far more than he values revenge for anything wrong we have done. You can’t love anyone including yourself until you are loved. We can never give what we don’t have. That is why God pours His love into us in the form of grace, mercy, and forgiveness before He ever expects us to be able to forgive ourselves or those who hurt us. If guilt is crushing you, it’s time to go to the cross and lay it down.

Are You Tired?

Are you tired? Not even so much physically as tired in your soul? Tired on a level sleep can't remedy. Tired on a level that no remedy seems to touch?

There might be a reason.

When I run I get tired. Some might get tired faster than I will while most can probably run further. It’s all based on fitness levels but fatigue is inevitable. It does not matter what colour you are on the "black/white" spectrum. It doesn't matter your nationality, gender, religious views, political views, language or any of the other myriad ways we classify humanity. If we run we will get tired. It's a natural law that can't be changed.

There are many natural laws that transcend our apparent differences. Broken bones hurt physically. Broken relationships hurt emotionally. Lack of food causes hunger. Lack of water or other hydrating fluids leads to dehydration. None of these realities are negotiable. They just are.

Many years age I came across this chart. It shows all the major religions of the world and boils their belief systems down to one common denominator - the golden rule. "Do to others as you would want them to do to you." It is a universal ideal but it isn't a natural law. Natural laws can't be broken. Ideals can be. Sometimes you can be as nice as possible and the other person will still treat you badly. That's because there is something wrong in them, rather than something wrong with you.

I went skiing this week and caught an edge. I found myself on the ground. Gravity is also a natural law.

I'm not sure if you have noticed but in the last 20ish years fitness facilities, health plans, diets, food quality, everything associated with what we put in our bodies, and how much we move our bodies have skyrocketed. Why? Because we're getting fatter and more unhealthy. Health is a natural law. The ill effects of poor health choices are unchangeable. If you consistently eat and live in an unhealthy way you will become unhealthy regardless of who you are.

Now consider this: If physical health is a natural law what about mental health? A friend of a friend said recently that mental health is the new frontier. She is right, at least in North America. In the United States mental health issues are on the rise. Fully one half of the population suffers from mental health issues at some point in their lives. That is double the global average. Some say that's because the United States has a better reporting/tracking/health system for measuring mental health. However no one would argue that their system is better than Europe yet they only have half the occurrence of mental health problems. The question is why?

Now we're getting close to the possible answer for why you might be so tired on a level sleep can't fix. If our bodies are designed for good food and proper exercise our mental health is likely only optimum with the proper inputs and maintenance as well. If we live contrary to those natural laws our mental health will suffer. What are those natural laws?

There are many but for this first issue of ‘Perspectives’ I am only going to propose one: meaningful rest.

The Jewish nation had a rest day every week. In addition they had a series of national rest days tied to specific positive celebrations. Three of those celebrations were each 8 days long. In total they had 80 days of meaningful rest every year. 80 days when the entire community rested from their usual work and celebrated together. These celebrations had countless positive benefits for mental health.

What I am proposing is that we need to not only have regular rest but meaningful rest/celebrations of the positive things that make us who we are as individuals and as a community. As a Seventh-day Adventist I have enjoyed 52 meaningful rest days a year beyond both statutory holidays and vacation time. Our church members have been studied by researchers all over the globe. You can read about it here:

 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/the-lovely-hill-where-people-live-longer-and-happier/272798/

The results? We are not only physically healthier with a longer lifespan than the average but we also have better mental health and greater happiness. Personally the last two years have included major mental health hits for me. We have moved over 6000km from what has been our home for the past 15 years and my wife’s home province. My 5 year old nephew was killed in a tragic accident in our back yard last May. My church has been struggling through some deep scandal and pain. My mental health could be compromised but it hasn’t been.

Here are some other stats to support this perspective. In France and the UK employers are required to give their employees 6 weeks of vacation per year. The United States? None.

In fact the two nations in the world who have the least amount of rest time have the highest rates of mental health issues and their suicide rates among first world nations are also high: The United States and Japan.

Why? Because meaningful rest is a natural law. It's not necessary because the Jews said so or because the Bible advocates for it. It's true because it is as unchangeable as gravity. If you don't adhere to this natural law you will suffer and no argument can change it nor can exceptions be made. It is what is. You might be tired because you have lost your joy. Maybe you aren't regularly pausing to celebrate the richness of your life. Perhaps you've lost all sense of meaning. Perhaps you have forgotten your Source. You were designed for meaningful rest. Breaking that law has unavoidable consequences.