Swords, Keys, and Plowshares

This is a bit of my street. On the right you’ll see a house with a “Trump 2020: Keep America Great” banner at the top (Side note: You can’t access that Mary Poppins-like roof from inside, people. I have no idea how he got that up there.).

On the left, you’ll see a house with flags reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Pro-America, Anti-Trump.”

And in the middle, you’ll see a house whose only banner is the weather-worn letters written across the top of the front door during Epiphany, marking our home as an outpost of the kingdom of God. Though, Matt is trying to convince me to fly a Netherlands flag during their national soccer games...

This has tickled me to no end, and if possible, I am more convinced than ever that we live on the best little block of Cucharras St. Because let me let you in on a little secret—these neighbors care about each other and the people on our street.

These neighbors come to our kids’ birthday parties. We water their flowers when they’re out of town. They collect our mail when we travel on holidays. We bring them fresh bread and cookies the boys decorated. They call to tell us to get our dog inside when they see a bear in their backyard. We chat over the fence and ask about family and invite each other over for impromptu dinners. They are our first trick-or-treating stop, filling the boys’ pumpkin buckets to overflowing before we’ve even made it to the end of the block.

And before we moved into the middle and hit the neighbor jackpot, these neighbors lived almost 20 years of life together, dealing with the carousel of characters who lived in our house, drinking wine on warm evenings on one couple’s porch, attending the annual 4th of July party in the others’ backyard. Taking care of one another.

I get the feeling many of your streets and neighborhoods look like this too (though maybe not quite so conspicuously). It’s hard to demonize people who have sat around your table, people who you love and trust. If we can’t be open-minded about an issue that matters deeply to us, let’s at least be open-hearted toward one another.

And to those who are in Christ, there are some things I’ve been turning over in my mind. I think that respectful conversation about how to follow the ways of our King and value what he values as we desire to see his kingdom come in a broken world would be much more fruitful long-term than trying to convince each other how he’d vote on Nov. 3. Voting forms us and impacts our neighbors and it’s important, yes—but our posture in all these things matters as well.

Rather than engaging in politics in view of the day when the nations will beat their swords—a sign of their God-given authority to preserve creation—into plowshares, we’ve tried to beat the keys to the kingdom—our God-given authority as the Church to participate in the renewal of all things, our birthright in Christ—into a sword.

Let’s receive the keys with humility and joy, and encourage each other toward deeper allegiance to our King as we imagine all the diverse ways we can be a faithful presence in our communities as we look for the kingdom to come.