When we refuse to work together

Once again we spent a few days in the midst of a government shut-down due to the inability of our government to work together for the good of the nation. Forget all the spin you hear from both parties, the shutdown is the result of Congress' inability to pass a budget that would fund the working of the government. That inability is due to the insistence of the Democrats that DACA be maintained in its present form which has nothing to do with the budget. Congress has until March to address DACA when it is scheduled to terminate. There is zero reason to use DACA as an excuse in January to refuse to pass a budget that would keep our government open and ensure our military and other government workers are paid for the work they do.

Our Congress has failed us, again. This includes members of both parties. Many of the persons supposedly representing the American people represent only themselves, their party, and the corporations who keep pouring money into their coffers. I said before the last election that the vast majority of the persons serving in Congress should be replaced. Term limits should be imposed, but of course, no one in Congress is going to vote to eliminate his or her cushy job. After all, the new military recruit making $17,000 a year would be paid during a shutdown, but the Senator making $174,000 a year would be paid during a shutdown. The chances of them passing a law to make it impossible for them to keep their job after two terms are slim and none.

However, term limits already exist. Elections are held every two years, and the American voter can vote the ones out of office who put themselves and their parties before the good of the nation. The problem is, few people vote, and of those who do vote, few are well-informed about what their representatives are really doing and supporting. We have become a nation of people who cannot think for themselves and rely solely on the spin put out by the political parties and our favorite news outlets to form our opinions.

Enough about politics. We see the same thing happen too often in our churches. Persons in leadership can become more concerned about their own positions and preferences than the good of the church and its mission. Controllers roam the halls and parking lots of our churches seeking to sway persons to their way of thinking and recruiting support for their agenda. Positive changes that are seen as a threat to their power are resisted despite the good they might do. New ministry opportunities are rejected if they do not personally benefit the controller. Too often, it's all about power rather than mission.

Nothing will ever change in such churches until the controllers are confronted. The pastor alone cannot confront these controllers. This is the task of the entire congregation who has finally grown tired of seeing their church hijacked by these self-appointed tyrants. They must either agree to work together for the good of the church or they need to leave.

Unity does not mean that we agree on everything, but it does mean that we are willing to work together to achieve great things. Our nation will never heal from its current divisions until those in leadership learn to work with one another, and our churches will never accomplish their God-given tasks until we learn to work with one another.