I Swear it's Not Too Late

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE DOCTRINE OF MUTUALITY

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The world is made up of all different kinds of people. Short people, tall people. Female people, male people. This skin tone, that skin tone. Old, young. Optimists, pessimists. Activists, pacifists. Communists, capitalists. Saints and sinners. This world contains people of every extreme, and all points in between.How do we get along with one another? History teaches we don't do it very well. At least, we don't do it very well for very long. Peter Seeger captured history's wayward cycle in his 1952 song, Turn, Turn, Turn, based on Solomon's ruminations in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The song's lyrics are:

TURN, TURN, TURN

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate

A time of war, a time of peace

A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time for love, a time for hate

A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Okay, let me find you a link to the song. Some of you may be too young to know it. The Byrd's recorded in 1965 here (Go-Go girls and all!).  The key phrase in this song, the thing I am thinking about today is, "I swear it's not too late."

You see, people in our world today are beginning to think it is too late. They see the hate. They see the divide, person against person, ideal against ideal, heart against heart, and conclude the only outcome is civil unrest, war, and the demise of civilization. Frank Luntz powerfully, emotionally, and effectively makes the case in this video that the disease that has killed every civilization in the past has infected us. If you have an hour, I highly recommend taking his thoughts into consideration. He sees no hope. He cannot sing the song for he swears it is too late.

Were it not that I know first hand that elements of the church of Jesus Christ are still projecting hope into our world today, visibly and volubly, I would have to agree with Luntz that it is too late to save the USA. But the church does still have a voice. True, the voice of hope and life is growing fainter, but it is still discernible. At least in my denomination it is still discernible. One thing I SO appreciate about the Church of the Nazarene is its commitment to the doctrine of mutuality. We believe that the the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ not only renovated the broken image of God in Christ-followers to God's original design for humanity in creation, but that the renovation has freed us from the desire to dominate one another. As Paul said it so well in Galatians 3:28, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (NLT).

To Nazarenes, the poor bring as much to the table as the rich. The young are as needed in the family of God as the old. Females have as much voice as do males. Leaders are chosen for their wisdom and maturity and not for their physical genetics. One human is different from another yet both are equal in contributory potential regardless of station or status. The doctrine of mutuality both recognizes and celebrates our differences as people, believing our diversity to be both welcome and necessary to the fulfillment of life's great story on earth. This is our belief, and we are working toward making it real in our workaday world.

Christian or not, all of us want hope for the future. We want to speak life into the world. How do we do that? It starts by not killing people. "Christians don't kill people!" Really? How many people do we cast from the pools of our admiration for not defining political issues according to our own understanding and personal insights? Understandings and insights that 40 years ago found you parked firmly on the other side of the camp? Cycles come and cycles go. Turn, turn, turn. Solomon, Seeger. Pretty insightful guys for their times in history. The most powerful thing Luntz said in his video, which I hope you will find an hour to watch is when he said at around minute 42:

"We don't trust culture to play to the best parts of us rather than appeal to the worst parts of us. We have so low a level of trust, and democracy requires at least some faith in the future and some faith in the people who lead us. No democracy can survive when wrapped in skepticism and cynicism. That that is where we are right now. Our politicians on both sides have created an environment of acrimony and partisanship and division that is not just poisonous, it is genuinely toxic. It is killing this country. Everyone who speaks in that language to dismiss a community or to dismiss someone else, we are not just trashing them, we are dehumanizing them. We are de-legitimizing them. When you get that far...thinking that [they] have no right to exist, that ]they] have nothing to contribute to society...when we make that decision to think that way, then there is no recovering. There is no coming back, because they cease to exist. And that is where we are right now."

Is Luntz right? He goes on in the video to trace the demise of past civilizations who walked this same path. Jesus said pretty much the same thing when he said," Anyone who says You Fool will be in danger of the fire of hell" (Matthew 5:21-22). Luntz ends by saying we have passed the point of no return. It is too late. We'd better all move to New Zealand.

I would agree, except for the faint voice I continue to hear emanating from corners of the church. That tiny voice encourages me to believe it is not too late. Here and there, people are doing things that show they value diversity. People are choosing to rub shoulders with one another despite their differing stances on the hot topic issues of the day. The doctrine of mutuality is slowly taking root, at least it is in my church. I see life penetrating our culture of darkness. I hear a tiny voice that I pray will become stronger as more people join love's chorus.

Luntz regrets that neither President Obama nor President Trump used their voices to bring hope to the nation. Luntz then said, "Hopefully there will come someone, someday, who can speak the American voice." I think the church has the voice we need to hear in this hour. Not only in what we say, but in what we do, how we choose to think about others.

What would happen if we used social media to spread hope and not hate? What would happen if we loved God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and proved it by how we love our neighbor as ourselves?

Let's be the voice, my friends. Be the voice!

I swear it's not too late.

Much love,
Amy

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Amy Trosen

Box 10002 PMB 1041

Saipan, MO 96950

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