Lighting Matches: When the President Portrays Himself as Jesus

Consider this image: An enclosed room with a silent gas leak. No one notices the gas until a troublemaker lights one match, and then another. The match matters—but the greater danger is the invisible gas filling the room.

This is called systems thinking. Instead of focusing on the troublemaker lighting matches, it would be more effective to address the gas leak.

Why in the world am I telling you such a strange story?! Let me explain.

I write blogposts to invite you to be thoughtful in your relationships with family, colleagues, friends and neighbors. Relationships, as you well know, can get tense. When there is tension (also called anxiety) in a relationship and emotions ramp up, words or actions that would otherwise be no big deal are suddenly flammable. Examples:

• Your co-worker left colored paper in the copy machine (a match is lit) and now your agendas are neon pink. Normally, you would recall the 80’s and laugh, but…you lose your cool.

• Your kiddo spilled a full glass of milk at the dinner table (a match is lit). Most nights, you understand kids are clutzy, but…you cry big tears over spilled milk.

Systems thinking challenges us to be thoughtful instead of reactive – to look beyond the immediate, flammable frustration and investigate what is causing the gas leak, or the anxiety. It is easy to get upset when a match is lit. It is more difficult to slow down, look around the relationship, and wonder what else is going on.

If we investigate those examples, we can see what else is going on.

• Your co-worker left colored paper in the copy machine and now your meeting agendas are neon pink, but because your dog kept you up last night, your car payment is overdue, and your grandma is sick, (the gas-filled room) you lose your cool.

• Your kiddo spilled a full glass of milk at the dinner table, but because you are anxiously waiting for the doctor to get back to you with test results (the gas-filled room), you cry big tears over spilled milk.

You can see it is easier to react to the match lighting and harder to investigate what else is adding to the anxiety or tension, resulting in a gas-filled room. Here is another example:

• The president posts a meme of himself as the Son of God…and people. go. nuts.

I am less interested in the content of this blasphemous post in which my own president portrays himself as the Son of God among exclusively white people. It’s just a match being lit. However, I would like to investigate what is filling the room with gas.

• The president posts a meme of himself as the Son of God, at the same time trust in institutions has been depleted, social media speeds up our reactions to the news, news is posted in real time and not always accurately, the rich and powerful have left the poor and unemployed in the dust, and people. go. nuts.

America today is a gas-filled room and people (not only the president) keep lighting matches. The people lighting matches may be looking for trouble, but the greater trouble is the flammable gas all around us.

Wouldn’t you like to investigate the gas leak and how we, as a nation, might address the leak? The Christian faith requires each individual to consider how we are faithful citizens outside of church building. Let’s investigate:

• How is social media ramping up emotions in the United States? (match-lighting)
• How are smart people get duped by ridiculous claims and memes on the internet? (match-lighting)
• How do “Christians” seem to overlook the president’s significantly un-Christian motives and actions? (match-lighting)
  

Putting out small fires is not as effective as addressing the gas leak. With the leak under control, troublemakers could light matches with little to no effect.

But today, as long as there is invisible gas filling the society, America will react and not thoughtfully respond to each match.

Circling back, I write blogposts to get you thinking about your relationships and what happens when there is tension or anxiety.

This three-part series is meant to get you thinking about how you as a person of faith and a citizen want to move through time of tension and anxiety as matches are lit in a gas-filled United States of America.

I also write blogposts to invite you to rely on Jesus’ tender love for you. When you rely on Jesus’ tender love in our own life, you may be more compassionate with others and the gas leak may begin to close.

The president’s blasphemous meme is not the problem, it’s just a match being lit. There is more going on as emotions keep ramping up. I wonder what might happen if each of us were to investigate the leak, that is, to do our best, most faithful-filled, individual thinking and rely on the tender love of Jesus for ourselves and for our neighbors.

Two posts will follow this one:
Part Two: The danger of relying on emotions and sharing a common enemy
Part Three: A thoughtful, Christian, neighborly response to this time in America

P.S. As I offer this invitation to think more clearly as individuals, I welcome your feedback, and your own thinking and wondering as we move through this season of America’s life. Please comment or message me directly if that is most comfortable for you. Your thinking helps my thinking, as we rely on the tender love of Jesus together.