We can’t pretend we’re okay when we’re not, that we agree when we really don’t. We have to have the big, hard conversations. So what can we do? We can trust Jesus. And we can trust Jesus together. We can trust Jesus alongside those we’re debating. We can begin and end our arguments with faith in the righteous King.

The Enemy, capital “E”, is afoot.

Seizing opportunities afforded by pandemic and politics, by vicious murders and violent mobs, he prowls like a lion.

He wields the weapons we’ve granted him: the echo chambers of social media, the tribalism of modern America, and the potent mix of hatred and fear which often drives us.

And the church, the bride of the King, is bloodied. Torn by the lion’s teeth.

Old and young seem increasingly distant and hostile toward the other, unable to hear or be heard.

Our communities, ecclesiastical and geographical, take sides with a deeper anger than I’ve ever seen.

Local elders run into impasses, unable to operate with the unity they used to know.

And the masks…those ever-present (or non-present) symbols of our disunity…the masks seem to be his icing on the cake.

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