Finding the In-Between

Harder and harder to do

I was out very early this morning as I had volunteered to pass out sample ballots at a local polling place and so I was able to take in the lunar eclipse.  It was beautiful.  But it was also really unique for me because as I looked at the eclipsed moon setting in the west, the morning sun was rising in the east.  To the west were the blue and purples of the sunrise mixed with the crimson of the moon.  To the east the orange, yellow, and red of the sunrise.  And it took a while as I was walking to find a place where I could see both at the same time.  As I stood there in our local middle school parking lot, I found myself lamenting.  I was lamenting the fact that it feels like we cannot be in places in the middle like this right now.  We either have to be in the blue or the red, the liberal or conservative, democrat or republican.  I am not writing here with a grand solution as much as a simple lament that we seemingly have lost this place in between...a place where we can hold both together...And in a sense it was fitting that it took a while to find that place to see both clearly.

This is not a commentary on any of the issues at stake in today’s election - that is for another place and another time.  There are definitely issues and rights that need to be fought for.  Instead, it is simply a lament of what it feels like we have lost and what I will keep working to find ways to restore.  As I write this, I have the words of Paul in Ephesians in my heart.  While I understand Paul was referring to relationships in the church, I think it can speak to a wider sense as well.

I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3