We need someone who can heal and unify the Nation

During the interview, the presidential hopeful expressed among other things that what people needed and wanted was someone who could heal and unify our nation. As I thought back over presidential campaigns for as long as I can remember, I seem to remember hearing that in every campaign.

Four years later, we hear it again: we still need someone to heal and unify our nation.

Clint Eastwood's most famous tagline is, “Go ahead, make my day.” But a more useful tagline, one with more wisdom, comes from another of Eastwood's films, in which he continually observes, “a man's got to know his limitations.”

Unfortunately, most of us are uncomfortable with the reality of our own limitations.

Both governments and citizens are uncomfortable with the realistic limitations of government. So governments keep promising and citizens keep demanding more than governments can accomplish. This results in a terrible consequence: By ignoring realistic limitations, realistic goals are ignored – and governments are less effective than they could be. If they accepted realistic limitations, and focused on what governments are best at accomplishing, they could be much better governments. So much better!

The same is true for churches. We are often uncomfortable with own limitations, promise more than we can provide, and step beyond our role. By forgetting the role of the church, by ignoring our own limitations, we are less effective than we could be -- because we lose our focus, and because we do not pour our energy and creativity into accomplishing what God has called and equipped us to do.

The center of the Christian faith, like the center of every major religion, focuses on continuing, never-ending, ever-deepening, personal, spiritual transformation, and is convinced that this focus will lead to the spiritual transformation of the world.

Our presidential hopefuls are absolutely correct: we do need someone who can heal and unify our nation. But the best hope for healing and unifying our nation is not the right candidate – but the right approach to faith. Our best hope is for religious institutions to focus on the continuing, never-ending, ever-deepening, personal spiritual transformation of every person we can touch -- beginning with ourselves, but not ending there. As the song says, let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.

To focus on continuing, never-ending, ever-deepening, personal spiritual transformation of every person is not to be critical or negative about how far we have come. Rather, it is to be wildly optimistic of how far we can go! This is why we so often conclude Daily Morning Prayer with these words:

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21

May the Peace of the Lord continue to be with you!