Between the 30s

After an unexpected positive start to the season, my Yellow Jackets have struggled the last couple of weeks. For a couple of hours this afternoon, the Bulldogs did not look much better. I’d love to know what Kirby said to his team at halftime!

What does this have to do with politics and religion?! The humorous quip is that football IS religion in the South! (And, head coaches are often the highest paid public employees!)

The real answer is that for a number of years now, I have contended that most of our country lives between the 30s. In other words, most of us are just right or left of center. I believe that the vast majority of us want/desire the very same things – we just might come at solutions from slightly different directions.

There are also groups who live on opposite ends of the field. They hang near their respective end zones with their heals dug in, fiercely defending their ground. Unfortunately, in recent years, these polarized groups have dominated much of our conversation about almost every conceivable subject and issue. Those of us in the middle are tempted to migrate toward more extreme views. Those on the far ends of the field try to convince us that the only way to “win” is to join them at the edge. My fear is that we all end up falling off of the cliff together.

There are definitely some ideas and principles that are worthy of a goal-line stand. There are times when we must staunchly defend what we believe and why we believe it.

Until this week, I was not familiar with this quote from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

This type of approach requires us to have real conversations. Real conversations do NOT happen on social media. Very few, if any, minds have been changed from a sound-bite, a click-bait headline, a toxic tweet or a meaningless meme. We must be willing to put in the hard work to carve out common ground and seek solutions that contribute to the common good.

When Paul is trying to work through contentiousness with the church in Corinth, he writes:

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 2 Corinthians 5:11, NLT

Let us continue to persuade each other with sincerity and respect.