Other-ing.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
~ Galatians 3:28
election, 1.
Team sports weren’t much of a thing in my house growing up. For most of my childhood, we didn’t even own a TV to watch them. I was late to grow muscles and never really did grow coordination, so I followed my dad into solo sports like running and cycling where pretty much all you do is put one foot in front of another. It’s just about moving… and being outside. But in a doomed effort to be cool, I did pick a sports team. Because my father and sister went to UNC, I flew the flag of Carolina blue.
Bert Wilder, National Lineman of the Week
In contrast, college ball was uber-serious in Kellie’s home. Her uncle Bert was a defensive end at NC State in the 60s and went on to play four seasons for the New York Jets. Her brother Frank played quarterback at Virginia Military Institute instead, but Wolfpack red was sacred in the Wilder family. They never held it against me that I flew blue, probably because they knew I really didn’t care. Heck, they even let their daughter marry a charismatic! But if talk ever turned to the Tarheels in their home, there was a bitter edge; they seemed personally offended that such an uncouth team would be allowed to take the field of play in such a hallowed sport.
Enter the 2024 election season where red and blue carry a much more ominous tone. Have we ever experienced a more fractious political climate in our lifetime? Don’t worry, I’m not going to talk about candidates, but I do want to talk about our injurious propensity to make people “other.” To reinforce our tribal identity to such an extent where that “other” party is not just mistaken; they are actually evil.
Of course, political parties play enormously on that divisiveness—I’m sure you get as many spam emails and texts as I do, attempting to stoke the flames of rage and fear as November 5 looms every closer. It would seem that, if the “other” party takes the White House on Inauguration Day, life as we know it will come to an end. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not diminishing the importance of this and every election, and I am more motivated to vote this year than I can remember. But what concerns me more than Elephants and Donkeys is the spirit of “other-ing” those whom we see as enemies. This runs completely contrary to the example of Jesus.
We have talked at length before about Jesus’ constant strife with the religious establishment of his time, but as I read it, it was the Pharisees’ commitment to the social pecking order of disempowerment, in the name of God, that lay at the heart of that conflict. They were the keepers of privilege in Jewish culture, and they weren’t about to share that with anyone… certainly not a radical upstart rabbi from the wrong side of the tracks. Oh no, they would crush him. And did. But the Champion of the Powerless lives on and urges us to become allies and advocates of the weak today. In an election season and in every season.
In the Kingdom of God, the tables are fundamentally and irrevocably turned: The first become last. The weak become strong. The poor become rich. The powerless—children, women, lepers, the blind and crippled and beggars, those on the fringes—are elevated and welcomed into the banquet feast of belonging while those still jockeying for power are left outside.
In these last few weeks of the election cycle, when we have all had it up to here with political contention, let’s consider those whom have been historically silenced and cancelled in our culture and see if we can advocate for inclusion like Jesus did. For three of the next five weeks (I’ll be traveling for two), I’d like to reach for the heart of Paul’s caste-breaking declaration in Galatians—that the character of God is defined by oneness, not by otherness. And we’ll look at the same three categories that Paul identified: racism, classism, and sexism.
Maybe we could say, There is neither Democrat nor Republican, neither tongue-talkers nor Bible-thumpers, nor is there Tarheel or Wolfpack, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Seriously, the church has not done any better at including, empowering, and uniting than the culture at large. But you and I… we can re-write that story! We can forsake “othering” and participate in “Kingdom-coming” just like Jesus. And maybe, if we keep at it long enough, we can even redeem the reputation of the church that bears his name.
growing your soul
Let’s take a page from the AA playbook and take a “fearless moral inventory” of who we tend to “other.” I’ll go first—I tend to look down on uneducated white dudes who talk with thick mountain accents and drive loud trucks with stickers that read “God, Guns, and Country.” That’s wrong, and I’m honestly working on opening my heart to them. Who is hard for you?
serving our world
Now let’s put some feet on that intention. Who can you have a curious conversation with this week that believes something completely opposite from you? Just to learn and listen? That’s it.
takeaway
All One.