On Election Day I stood outside at 6 a.m., waiting in line to vote at my local polling place. As I looked around at my fellow voters I saw people holding their coffees. In front of me was a family of two parents and their adult son. They talked and joked as the line slowly progressed forward towards our destination. A few spaces ahead of me there were two parents with a baby. The people around them exclaimed over the child and laughed at the small noises that it made. There was an air of anticipation and of gravity as we stood waiting in the chilly, dark morning. As I watched, I remembered that these people were about to walk in and cast their vote towards opposing sides. I thought of the differences in world views. And then I realized: standing together in the dark with our families and fellow citizens, we shared an experience. The things we shared, being American, being committed to the future of our country, going to work, needing coffee to get through the cold and the dark, these were larger than the things that divide us. This peaceful morning was so different from the anger and tension engulfing our country. When we didn’t speak of our differences we lived the same moment together.
Your labels don’t serve you.
Reducing people to one word: Conservative, Liberal, White, Black, Athlete, Non-athlete, Middle-class, Lower-class, this is unfair. It excludes every other facet of a person and defines them completely by their opinion on a subject or one piece of the person that they are. Although I am often guilty of this, I am realizing that labeling myself and others is an excuse that keeps me in a bubble. Those who have changed my perspective would have seemed unlikely friends, people with whom I don’t agree on many things whether worldview, politics, taste in clothing or movies or music. There is, however, common ground to be found with every person. If I had hidden behind the label “Christian conservative” I would have missed out on two important friendships that expanded my perspective and taught me grace for people who have been hurt. Common ground may be small, but it can be found. Defining ourselves solely by one belief or trait hinders community and can create anger and hatred.
When I say this, I don’t ignore objective truth. I’m not saying there is no right and wrong. I am not implying that we should not stand up for truth definitively stated by God in the Bible. On those issues there is no debate. I am simply conjecturing that we tend to label ourselves and others with arbitrary words that divide us rather than bringing us together. There is a way to look past conflicts and enjoy a friendship without agreeing on everything.
This dividing and labeling is not exclusive to secular society. Christians label ourselves by the kind of worship music that we like. “Traditional” and “contemporary” don’t mix. Churches literally divide over the proposed color of a new carpet. Even within points of doctrine Christians hide behind labels. Sure, it is easy to reduce my opinion on a doctrine to one word and to say “I’m pre-millennial” (or whatever stance you choose), but that label has a connotation and can feel exclusive to those who don’t share it. When lacking grace in stating such a view, you run the risk of alienating others who don’t hold the same position on what is not a first-tier issue of salvation. Views can and should be expressed when asked for, but what we all have in common is a faith in Christ! It is a saving faith. A sanctifying faith. It should be a UNITING faith. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. Your labels do not serve you. They bring disunity.
One of the most moving moments I have experienced as a believer in Christ was in Guatemala. While there on a mission trip, my team attended a church comprised of Spanish speakers and English speakers. As we stood worshipping God, we sang the song “Good Good Father.” The Guatemalans sang “buen, buen Padre” while my team sang in English. Though we came from different nations, backgrounds and ethnicities, we had one of the most powerful things in common. Labels aside, we worshipped the one who created and sustained all of us.
We share bigger things than the issues that divide us. We are all people, together.
