Why Christians Should Rise above Political Noise
- Maina Mwaura CrosswalkHeadlines Contributor
- Updated Jul 23, 2024
I can still remember the car ride as if it were yesterday. The year was 2018. In fact, it was the fall of 2018, and at the time, I was just two years into my second career acting as a journalist and very unsure of myself, especially in the arena of politics.
I had received the invitation to be a part of former President Trump’s press pool, but now, to many looking into being credentialed to be a part of a presidential press pool isn’t as exciting as it may sound at the time. I was broken and just trying to pay the bills.
As I arrived in Chattanooga, TN, where the event was taking place, I heard a loud pop, and I knew immediately that my tire was flat. Now, before we go any further, I’m your typical city guy who knows nothing about a car, let alone changing a tire, so all I could remember was thinking, how am I going to change the tire when I don’t know anyone in Chattanooga?
I felt helpless. How would I be able to cover the news event I was paid to do? As I pulled my car over to investigate the flat tire, I learned a lesson that would stick with me forever: how to rise above the political noise and see people as they are meant to be seen.
As I was looking down at my tire, out of nowhere, I could hear the voice of a stranger asking, “Are you okay, young man”? As I looked up, I saw a tall African American man who had to be in his mid-sixties, wearing everything that former President Trump sold in his bookstore. I must be honest; it was the first time I encountered a Black Trump supporter, not to mention the amazement at what he had on. At the time, I didn’t know it, but the stranger changing my tire would become a friend.
If we’re going to rise above the political polarization besetting our country, we must remember that God has placed people around us that he wants us to connect to. You may ask, why? We serve a God who loves to connect with people.
We have to lean into stories of empathy, which is precisely what my new friend was doing. He leaned into my need to fix my flat tire, and a friendship was formed through that. He never asked if I was going to the Trump rally. His first response was, are you okay?
As a nation, we aren’t okay. More than ever, we have become siloed in every area of our life. If we’re going to rise above the political polarization as Christ followers, we have to lean into being available. I’ve noticed that I tend to be willing to connect when I choose to become available to the people he wants me to connect to.
Author and journalist Anna Broadway discusses this in her book Solo Planet: How Singles Help the Church Recover Our Calling. She describes her experience traveling the world to try to understand how single adults live.
Anna travels the world and leans into being available to hear people’s stories. Now, before we go any further, we don’t have to travel the world to do this; we can do this right where we live. By being available and asking questions, we can lean into and break political polarizations. I believe that when we ask questions, we become learners by knowing why the other person believes the way that they do.
Throughout Charles Duhigg’s research for his book, he studied the brain and how it is wired to connect with others. Duhigg asserts that when connections happen, our brains connect to the energy the other person brings. As a Christ follower who believes that God made and created who we are as people, imagine for a moment that God has designed and wired the brain for connections by his creation.
One of my favorite stories in scripture is that of the woman at the well. I love this story because Jesus decides to break cultural and political norms to do exactly what I’m asking you to do and to rise above the political polarization that divides us. Jesus wasn’t changing tires like my friend did with me, but he was doing something better. He was meeting the woman where she lived, worked, and played. Jesus stepped outside of his box to connect.
Pastor Ryan Rush, who has become a new friend of mine, challenges his church and audience in his new book Restore the Table to have meals with people that you may not even agree with. In fact, Ryan would say that we should start with our family members first. All throughout scripture, we find people eating with one another, and I believe it’s a great place to start getting to know someone and rising above the political noise.
When Jesus was connecting with the woman at the well over water, she left changed being in His presence all because He was able to rise above the social, cultural, and political norms of his day. What I love most about the story is how she went and told others about the man who had changed her life. Just maybe life will change if Christians follow in Jesus’ footsteps and rise above what is dividing our country.
Photo Credit: ©Image created using DALL.E 2024 AI technology and subsequently edited and reviewed by our editorial team.
