In times of stress, whether in our personal lives, in our community, in our nation, or our world, it is tempting to retreat inside of ourselves, or to insulate ourselves from people who disagree with us, or who don't see things the way that we do. At first, if we need to do that for a moment until the world stops spinning and we can get our feet back under us, that is probably not a bad strategy. If you find yourself overwhelmed and not sure of what to do, find someone who can help you to get grounded again.
The thing is that our society is increasingly polarized. Social media tends to fan flames that give more fuel to anger, disagreement, and division. I see people jumping into every fight they see, as if shouting the right thing at the right person will make everything change. I don’t know about you, but I have NEVER changed my mind because someone yelled at me or insulted me on social media. If anything, it gets me to dig in my heels.
Because of those circumstances, the temptation is to see every day, every circumstance, as a crisis, an overwhelming time, and so we must spend all of our time in retreat, in safety, in and among our tribe, whoever that is. If enough of us do that over a long enough time, we make the polarization even worse.
This is not a social or political reflection, although it probably has social and political implications. My point is a theological one. We must not be the kind of people who live in retreat, who stay where it is safe, who must always seek shelter from those who disagree with us, even when that disagreement is sharp or even unkind. We must be willing to talk to those who do not understand us, who think we are wrong, who think we are the ones wrong with the world.
We need this for many reasons. So long as we stay in our own groups, the rest of the world will never see that we are human beings, with thoughts, opinions, feelings, and longings; some of which are good, and some need correction, just like them. We need to see a common humanity in others and we need to show a common humanity to others.
More importantly, we need to do this because this is precisely the kind of thing that God does. I do not mean this in any kind of wishy-washy, “God agrees with me” kind of way. I mean that we actually see God do this in Christ. When we see who God is and what God is like, it is when God becomes a human being, like one of us, lives with us, teaches us, corrects us, but loves us with a love that will not let us go. He knew how we would respond. He knew that his future included the cross, but he came anyway.
The world will not always understand you. Go anyway. The world will not always like you. Go anyway. The world will sometimes resist you. Go anyway. The world will, sometimes, tell you how long they have been waiting for someone like you; to have someone love them and not yell at them, to care for them and not lecture them. Someone to walk with them as they learn and grow. We all need to do this, because this is what God has, in fact, done for us.