November 2nd: Election Day, Day of the Dead.

(Written yesterday but do to a pounding headache and the need for sleep it was not posted until today.)

Today in the United States it was Election Day. Leading up to today, billions of dollars were spent on campaigns. Weeks of “heated discussions,” more commonly known as arguments, created great rifts between friends and family. These strong stands were made about issues that people would generally care to actually DO little about.

But today all of that was put to an end as everyone made their way to the polls to cast their votes. By filling in circles or completing arrows people have shown their devotion to certain issues; the same issues that may have torn apart relationships. But soon everyone will go back to his or her normal life. The issues that today were worth more than friendships, tomorrow will be of significantly less importance. However, the scars that were created as a result of those arguments will remain. So was it worth it? A few years from now the changes that happened as a result of this election, or maybe not even this election but those arguments that caused a significant amount of pain, will they have been worth it?

Today in El Salvador it was Day of the Dead. Flowers in hand, everyone made their way to the graves of loved ones to beautify the tombs of deceased relatives and to pray. Families go to the cemeteries to grieve together.

It’s interesting to think about these two events happening simultaneously. With the focus in El Salvador today being the death of loved ones and the intimacy of family, it makes these arguments seem more futile than ever before. While issues that people are willing to do little about divide American Christian families, Salvadoran families (regardless of religious affiliation) are binding together to lift up loved ones in prayer. It sheds light on a serious pandemic plaguing American Christianity. We seem to have forgotten what it means to be a family. We have been given the best example of what love of a family should look like through Christ’s love for us, and yet somehow, families in El Salvador, many of which haven’t experienced this great love seem to be doing a better job.

By allowing these issues to cause such divisions, we’re placing a higher value on people’s political beliefs, than on their value in Christ. If this is taking place in the intimate setting of individual families, it’s certainly happening within the larger family of Christ where familial ties are less strong (maybe unjustly so, but less strong nonetheless).

While not completely the same, it’s not all that different from what was happening to the early church in Galatia. Romans, Greeks, and Jews all had different worldviews. It was becoming apparent that Jews saw themselves as superior to all other cultures. Paul, seeing this and recognizing that it is the direct result of a flawed understanding of the gospel addresses the issue in his letter to the Galatians.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

(Galatians 3:26-29 and 5:4-6)

Paul is essentially saying, according to the gospel, no matter what title has been given to you or you’ve given yourself, if you belong to Christ, you are part of the same family, the family of God. He’s declaring that in order to become a Christian you don’t first have to become Jewish. If salvation is to be found in Christ alone, all other allegiances to ethnicities or devotions to certain sets of laws have no bearing anymore. Paul’s letter to the Galatians serves as a warning against the subtle dangers that can ultimately distort the gospel and divide the church.

If Paul were around today, he might feel it necessary to write a similar letter to the American Church. It might look something like this:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Republican nor Democrat, neither conservative nor liberal, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

You who are trying to be justified by taking a specific political stance have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus political allegiances have no value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

That might be a bold statement, but I believe it’s a needed one. Too often, as Christians in America, we are guilty of placing political beliefs and allegiances above our love and devotion to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we do this we are missing the point of the gospel. What I am not saying is that we shouldn’t take part in the political system, we can’t take political stances, or align ourselves with a certain part. What I am saying is that none of that should supersede who we or our brothers and sisters in Christ are. It should not cause divisions within friendships, families, and the church. So as this election season ends, let’s treat the wounds we have caused or suffered, allow time to heal them, and learn to love despite these differences in opinion that in light of the cross are rendered insignificant.