Thursday, May 18, 2017

It's time to learn to work together

Is anyone else getting as sick and tired of the petty partisan fighting that has existed since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States? There was a time when elections were held, a winner was declared, and our elected representatives returned to conducting the business of the United States. No longer. What we have in Washington DC today are a bunch of sore losers, masters of innuendo and spin, and individuals who could care less about making America a better place to live. Their focus and priorities lie in their base and in the lobbyists who line their pockets with enough money to continue to be reelected. Since the election some have focused on nothing else but finding a way to try to impeach the president.

Many Republicans do not come across any better. Because Donald Trump doesn't toe the party line he has made more than a few enemies on that side of the aisle as well. People who would have supported almost anyone representing their party have been among the first to criticize, question, and accuse.

Reading the headlines and listening to the newscasts one would think Trump is the first president to have a few rough days at the start of his presidency. According to some "reporters" Trump's presidency is already a failure. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely. You try to govern the most powerful nation in the world and see how well you do during your first 100 days. Is he perfect? Not by a long shot. I doubt he would have been elected if the Democrats had ran anyone the American people found even slightly trustworthy. But, he did win, and it's now time for those who have been elected to be leaders in our government to begin acting like responsible adults and actually lead.

Unfortunately, it's not difficult to make comparisons to the way many churches operate. Pastors are not perfect people either, and we make our share of mistakes. We say things we should not have said, we fail to make wise decisions sometimes, and occasionally even the best of us will not follow though on something we promised we would do. Sometimes our sermons are boring, sometimes they are too long, and occasionally they are too short (although you are unlikely to get many complaints about the latter).

Sometimes we get sideways with the leaders in our churches. They may not like our recommendations, our theology, our leadership style, or the way we comb our hair. It doesn't matter what their complaint is, they just don't like us. As a result, many pastors find some of the leaders in the church will refuse to work with them and often will work against them. Gossip, innuendo and outright lies happen in churches, too. Rather than acting like adults and working together in those areas in which we can agree, we sometimes find church "leaders" acting like spoiled kids and working only for their own best interests.By the way, the same can be said for presidents and pastors.

President Trump would probably be smart to stop tweeting so much and keeping quiet. I would tell some pastors the same thing. True leaders do not feel they have to respond to every critic. There is a time to respond to unfair criticism, and a time to ignore it. It's too easy to go on social media and give your critics even more to criticize. Pastors and presidents would be wise to find areas of agreement with their critics and try to work in those areas.

This nation has a lot of work to do to make life better for everyone. Our churches have a lot of work to do to take the Kingdom of God to everyone. It's past time our leaders in government and in the church begin to act like adults and work together to accomplish worthy goals.

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