Yesterday was wild. The questions that keep running through my head are Why did this happen? How did we get here? Was it a slow culmination of events or did it just suddenly happen? Did I contribute to this? is this the beginning of something new or the last dying breaths of something leaving? How can I help remedy the situation? I don’t know. I. Don’t. Know.

What I do know though is that those who are pointing fingers (my initial reaction to yesterday) is not improving the situation. Those who are comparing and contrasting this to the BLM activity over the summer (my initial reaction yesterday) are not helping the situation. I have tons of thoughts on this and I could write thousands of words on this (I did). I debated posting this, but I know me getting my thoughts out help me organize my thoughts and help me continue to process the events so if that is you also – please do it. Call or FaceTime someone you trust and respect to talk about the events, talk to your kids about it, your parents, your friends, etc.

I have three main thoughts from yesterday that I want to share: What is Social Media’s role in all of this? Did Christianity birth this? What are we to do about it?

If you have any social media account, you are well aware of the events of yesterday with the protests at the US Capitol. Also yesterday, the President of the United States was locked out temporarily of his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. You see, many people have been convinced this election was fraudulent or stolen. I am not here to debate that. But I know people who feel that way and that is what they have been told by people they trust, what they have researched to find, that is what they wholeheartedly believe. If the election was reversed and the same thing happened but just flip Trump and Biden – I wouldn’t be shocked if Democrats did what happened yesterday. I wouldn’t. 

The problem with social media is people create an echo chamber and they “Block” or “Cancel” people they don’t agree with or people that offend them. The result of that is they tend to only hear things that confirm and strengthen what they already believe. If your beliefs are never challenged, you will become more and more entrenched in what you believe, and you will see everything through that lens. I have found from observing is echo chambers often tend to lead to more extreme and less nuanced stances. I know people who are genuinely scared, feel pain, and are angry at what they feel is being taken and threatened from them, and when people are scared/threatened, fight or flight is activated and they lash out. Those people yesterday, many of them, their mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers fought in wars to “establish America” as they say, and they 100% wholeheartedly believe that is being taken away from them – so what are they doing? The only thing they know how to do – fighting to get it back. Is it right? That is for you to ask yourself. What I want to say is “don’t create an echo chamber.” Try and find a healthy balance and take in information that challenges you. Unless someone is harming my mental health or threatening me, I am not going to block or unfollow someone because their opinion, though I may have disdain for it, it stretches, challenges and pushes me to grow. I try to understand how they believe what they believe and see if there is anything I can learn from their position. Heck, maybe their position is more correct than mine, and I need to change. What is that famous saying? “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Did anyone, regardless of political affiliation, do that yesterday? Note, it doesn’t say “don’t be angry,” it is okay to be angry about what happened. But was anger your initial response? Or was your first response to sit back – listen and try and understand what these people are crying out over and if maybe we can help remedy the situation. I know that wasn’t my first response, and it is something I need to work on. Often times when people don’t feel heard they resort to more drastic measures.

Secondly, is this a birth of Christianity? Don’t get all defensive of me saying this – keep reading and follow me. If you watched the news yesterday, you saw TONS of flags with Jesus and Trump. The people who took the Capitol yesterday did so in the name of Trump and of Jesus it seemed. I saw many people on social media who claim to be Jesus followers condemning the action of those. But what I want to understand is – those are people who most likely, for generations have been raised in believing in God/Jesus and thought this was the right thing to do. You see, I like to look at it from the perspective of a book club.

 In a book club – everyone reads a book or a chapter of a book and then they gather together, and they discuss it. Why? Because when people read many people will get an entirely different interpretation of things and many people will glean different ideas, and if we gather and share, we can learn, and the book will take a whole new meaning and depth and the layers of the book just continue to unfold. It is a really cool thing. The problem with the Bible is people believe/are taught that the Bible has 1 correct literal meaning/interpretation and that is how you are supposed to read it. Except there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different readings/interpretations that are all being taught that there’s is the one true meaning. Instead of gathering together and coming with an open mind to other people’s interpretations, we think ours is the one true one and that is where we get in trouble. The people yesterday, from what I could gather from online and on the news, seemed to be of the extreme conservative Christian movement, and they were doing what they felt is right. They, by no means, speak for the whole of the conservative Christian movement, just a small sect of it. But as another famous quote goes “…by their fruits you will know them.” I look at yesterday as the product, the fruits, of what people have been taught to believe. They believe in a warrior god that will deliver them. Yesterday was the harvest of seeds that have been planted for generations of a god that is the god that Jesus of the Bible spoke out against. I feel like the people who missed Jesus in the Bible because they were expecting the Messiah to be a warrior to deliver them from the Jews were the same people yesterday missing out on the Jesus who rode a donkey. I feel like maybe they missed Jesus, and we need to honestly look at what we believe and what we are teaching our kids and our families. Let’s look at the seeds we are planting and figure out what fruits they will bear, because the fruits that were bore yesterday are sour. 

Lastly, what are we to do about this? Is this the birth pangs of something new or the last punch of something that is dying and going away? What on earth might happen on January 20^th? I feel like we have a choice. If our response is to point fingers, yell, cancel, block, and fight with those who disagree with us then I fear this may be just the beginning. However, if we approach differing opinions with humility, grace and with a perspective that is first trying to understand, learn and grow then I think this can be a turning point – a pruning for our culture/society where we grow immensely. Most likely some of you reading this do not agree with me – what is your response to what I am saying?

If you look back at the hardest times in your life, the times where things seem to have all been wrong, we often look back at them with a strange sense of gratitude because they have molded, shaped and changed us into who we are now. Let’s make yesterday be a rock bottom for our culture – a springboard for us to come together and learn from each other and to hopefully one day look back with a some sort of strange sense of gratitude. Let’s listen to those who are yelling that this election is fraudulent, the same way those this summer were yelling that Black Lives Matter and that they wanted to be listened to. Let’s listen to others in grace and humility and understand their perspective. Let us treat others how we wish to be treated.