Being on the Same Page Helps

“Do two walk together,
            unless they have agreed to meet?  - Amos 3:3

In context, this verse means that there was no basis for covenant fellowship between the LORD and the northern kingdom so long as Israel was violating the terms of the agreement. But, the proverb's general meaning is that estranged parties cannot make progress together when they are not on the same page.

A supreme example of this is the current controversy over the national anthem involving the NFL, the President of the United States, the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the protests, and the veracity of the social narrative behind all of it.

In 2016, one player engaged in a protest for which there was no way of gauging whether or not he would ever accomplish anything. Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel rather than stand during the national anthem, explaining his actions in the following terms: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color ..."

The issue itself created an impasse. If some meeting of the minds has been officially reached, I clearly have been napping. Some people seem to believe that the matter of police shooting black men is EPIDEMIC and that some major societal adjustment is in order. Others believe that the incidents are ANECDOTAL, that the country itself is not to blame, and that the culture is not systemically racist. All such incidents should be addressed through the justice system on a case-by-case basis. As I see it, any common ground for assessing the situation seems elusive at best.

Suddenly, after a single season, Kaepernick was done with his kneeling. Was the matter now resolved to his satisfaction? If so, was it resolved due, in any part, to his protest?

Now, in the current season, others had been following Kaepernick's lead when President Trump chimed in. Suddenly, it was impossible to determine who was reflecting Kaepernick's original issue and who was simply asserting, for the president's benefit, the right of the players to protest anything, everything or whatever.

This is my prediction. Eventually, the noise will fade, and the issue will simply pass. The NFL will find some way to move forward that will ultimately satisfy no one. They have to. There is no remedy. Once again, the issue is rooted in a perception of a problem for which there is no consensus while the protest itself has no metric for measuring its effectiveness.

Christian, if you are firmly convinced of one version of the narrative or the other, contend for social justice and peace accordingly. But, by all means, avoid the strident rhetoric that poisons the dialogue. Every Bible-believing Christian understands that when the world's din has calmed and the dust has settled, all that will matter is a person's standing in Christ. Ours is a greater and more urgent cause than any limited to this terrain. And, if we cannot engage in the issues of this world in such a way as to earn a hearing for matters that have eternal consequence, what difference will it make if we are on the winning side of some temporal argument?