Unity Starts With Us

During elections there is always much talk of the desire for unity but seldom is there the will to do what it takes to make that happen. With the election results in, our actions in the next few days will say volumes about whether we really care about unity or if we simply care about getting our own way.

If we truly desire unity, we will have empathy for those who did not get what they wished for and show kindness to those who did. If we truly want unity, respect will run in both directions and humility will characterize victory as well as defeat. For the sake of unity, we will be able give as well as receive grace and be able to give forgiveness as well as recognize our own need to be forgiven.

Unity will not be built in gloating or in pouting, but in acknowledging the humanity of both the winners and the losers. Unity will be built through decency, not through villainization. It will be built through understanding, not through misrepresentation. It will be built through a willingness to do the hard work of seeing the image of God in every human being and honoring them because of it. Unity will not come through laws and legislation, it will not come through the policies of politicians, it will not come through speeches and pontification – unity will only happen when you and I make the decision that unity is more important that selfishness, more important than winning arguments and more important than getting our way.

We can always hope that politicians will back up their words with actions, but we must not wait for them, or depend on them. Unity depends us, the common people. Nowhere should unity be more apparent than in the church. We are the ones who must take the initiative reach out to those with whom we disagree, to comfort our brothers and sisters who are disappointed in the outcome and to be happy for those who feel relief and joy. Until we, you and I, members of the church, are able to do those things, we will always be a nation divided. We can’t expect more from the rest of the country than we expect of ourselves. We must lead. We must live differently.

I know that I am sometimes guilty of promoting too much division.

I hope to do better.

I pray for forgiveness.

I pray for unity and for peace – first in the church, then in the rest of our country.

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls;

when the stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,

or the Lord will see and disapprove

and turn his wrath away from them.”

- Proverbs 24:17-18