Hockey Fight Unity

I once described a local pastors' fellowship I belonged to as having hockey fight unity. When a fight breaks out in hockey oftentimes the players on the opposing teams pair up with one of their opponents and hold the other's jersey as a way to keep the other guy out of the brawl. The ministerial fellowship meetings always felt to me like competing pastors getting together to keep each other from getting into a fight. We'd smile at each other and toss around unity and brotherhood slogans all the while mistrusting and staying on the alert in case the other guy starts swinging.

It is the consensus among the participants of a small prayer group I'm involved with that the number one enemy of community transformation is division among the Christians. It's been 2000 years since Jesus prayed that his followers would be one in the same fashion that he and his heavenly father were one and we're as likely as ever to break out in strife over turf, doctrine, preferences and control. Why is that?

Aside from the general 'fallenness' that we all have to live with, one of the main reasons we have such a hard time making meaningful progress toward unity is the many and varied systems and structures we establish for the purpose of maintaining our own sense of well being. We all tend to seek identity in that which makes us feel the most comfort and control. Birds of a feather flock together because it usually seems easier--less stress and fewer strangers to fear. So we organize ourselves with policies and guidelines that are intended to preserve our status and space. In our effort to preserve we inevitably erect boundaries that exclude. Excluding boundaries always result in the "ins" and the "outs", the "us" and the "them". Once that dynamic exists disunity is assured. At this stage of my life I've come to believe that as long as we feel the need to defend institutional distinction (e.g., Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, Republican, Democrat, Hawkeye, Cyclone) we can make little or no progress toward genuine unity.

As always Jesus is our model. Of him Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of slave, became human!" Jesus willingly set aside his distinctive position for the express purpose of breaking through the boundary that separated humanity from its creator. Until we all are willing to identify and minimize those excluding labels and boundaries that define us, we'll continue to settle for hockey fight unity. How sad.

Someone, Please "Unscrew" Us

I've been struck by the number of high profile individuals who have made the headlines this week because of some career and reputation damaging behavior. Ted Haggard, Michael Phelps, Tom Daschle and a whole roster of CEO's have lost jobs, respect and more because they chose to engage in some risky conduct. Daschle didn't pay his taxes. Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, let his picture be taken while taking a hit of weed from a bong. Haggard...well, you know.

What is it about us human beings that makes so many of us do stuff that on the surface seems totally reckless and foolish? Why would a well connected, former Senate leader, think he could get away with cheating on his taxes? Why would a multiple Olympic gold medal winner who stands to make millions from lucrative endorsements put it all at risk for a temporary marijuana high? Why would someone like Ted Haggard, one of the brightest evangelical stars, do the stuff he now admits including using meth and cavorting with male escorts? Why would Wall Street executives receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts be so callous as to think they could pay themselves huge bonuses and ridiculous perks while under the microscope of investigation and public scrutiny?

Why did I once go out and party the very night my parents were nailing down the final details of an arrangement that would have allowed my brother and me to remain in our beloved high school and not have to start attending a new one in the middle of 11th and 10th grades--every teenager's worst nightmare. Passing out in Dad's arms earned me a seat in the moving van and meant the loss of peer status and popularity to become a stranger in the new school. Why did I do that? Because I'm an idiot? Don't answer that.

These examples underscore the fact that we human beings, at the most inopportune times, are capable of doing things that are illogical, unwise, self-destructive and hard to explain. We all screw up. Because of this, I try to remind myself I have no basis to feel like I'm better than others. Given the same set of circumstances these folks faced, my conduct might have been even worse. I'm convinced we all need someone to "unscrew" us--a savior, if you will.