There are two types of people in this world. People who are fascinated by elections, and people who fall asleep during elections. I am married to the latter, and baffling as it is, he was able to go to bed BEFORE WE KNEW WHAT HAPPENED. The Weirdest.

Elections thrill me, so this unpredictable one, 2016, had an extra bedtime adrenaline rush involved.

What I can’t stop thinking about – what is most fascinating to me about this one (and yet sad too), is HOW POLARIZING THIS ELECTION IS IN THE CHURCH. 

Going through my Facebook feed, the church body seems like a schizophrenic version of itself. EVEN WITHIN MY OWN PEOPLE, my dearest in the world, there is COMPLETE opposition and disagreement.

Some believers are PRAISING THE LORD for a Republican sweep of the nation. They feel on-their-knees grateful that God answered prayers to preserve the hope of freedom and the fight for life. Praise the Lord. He’s given our nation another chance.

Other sisters and brothers, equally devout, are weeping, despondent, confused. They’re angry and sad, reminding each other that God is on the Throne, even though it appears He didn’t answer.

ALL THIS – from the same Body. Victory and defeat. Hope and despair. Both of these from true believers praying to the same God, fervent in their Christian faith. One feels gratified, the other forsaken. How can this be?

It is a little disconcerting.

I’ve never remembered an election where the Church looked so GENUINELY CONFUSED about what It Knows Is Right. There’s no rhyme or reason. You can’t group liberals on one side and conservatives on the other. Nope, that won’t work. It’s not a male vs. female. You can’t track it on pro-life vs. pro-choice. It’s not tied to big government vs. small government.

We. Just. Disagree.

(And strongly, it seems.) This week, by chance, the boys and I have been saying a passage from Ephesians:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I’m a feisty one, and it’s not really the answer my flesh wants right now. I like having an enemy with a face, who needs correcting.

But this verse? It’s what I need to hear.

We have an enemy. All of us. And it is the same.

Our enemy is not Hillary Clinton. Our enemy is not Donald Trump. Our enemy is not the Muslims, or the gay-haters, the right-wing militia or the liberal media. It’s not the upper class, the lazy, the abortionists, or the women-haters. Our enemy is not that Christian sister who JUST. DOES. NOT. GET. IT.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I hate when people try to heal existential shotgun wounds with a bandaid, and that is not what I am suggesting. I am not suggesting that we all shut up, roll over, and docilely play dead in mock agreement.

There are some REAL, SIGNIFICANT issues facing our culture right now, and the Church simply HAS to get it together.

But I’m sorry – that is NOT going to happen with a few trendy #lovewins and #jesusisking hashtags.

It’s gritty, dirty, messy stuff to work out issues. It’s like marriage. We have to go there, to all the awful Disagreeing Places, because you don’t have a choice. We have to hear the other side, and realize there is something worth hearing, something you hadn’t considered. You have to say Your Own Things, that are awkward and hurt people’s feelings.

Yes, it’s like marriage…You disagree, and you work at it, and you argue, and you spend some nights on the other side of a slammed door with weepy tissues BUT YOU NEED IT, AND YOU NEED EACH OTHER, AND YOU GET THROUGH IT.

TO MY FRIENDS WHO HAVE LOST, TO MY FRIENDS WHO HAVE WON ~

Congrats and I’m sorry.

And now let’s get to work. We have an enemy to fight.

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