I don’t like him. I never have. I think his words and actions are deplorable (yes, I chose that word intentionally). Note, I didn’t say he himself is deplorable. Statements like that border on judgment in my mind. More importantly, he is a human being, created in God’s image. He, therefore, has inherent value. Like all of us, he is flawed. Some of those flaws include dehumanizing and vilifying others, which I find particularly deplorable. Thankfully, our flaws don’t make us less than human.

Since I learned of the attempted assassination Saturday night, my heart has been heavy, as if there are a bunch of two-ton butterflies flitting around in my chest. I believe this is for two main reasons. First, on the human level, I’m grieved that someone tried to kill him, killing someone else in the process. One life ended; one dramatically altered, right there on national television. I’m tired of and grieved by America’s tolerance (and even promotion) of violence. That, in and of itself, is dehumanizing.

I’ve also been troubled by the potential aftermath. My family and I recently watched “Civil War”, a movie presenting a potential future in which our dehumanization of each other reaches its logical conclusion: civil war. People kill people because of where they are from, how they look, or how they talk. People torture people who think differently than them. It was a chilling movie, and, since Saturday night, I’ve been concerned that we’re moving further down that path. I mean, we’re already on the path…

I’ve been concerned this would be a tipping point in which the flames ignited by politicians’ irresponsible propaganda would burst out of control, enflaming the U.S. in civil war. I’ve been concerned about potential violent retaliation. I believe these concerns are legitimate because of the downward descent of our dehumanization of one another.

My heart and mind have been overwhelmed with stimuli since Saturday night. So many feelings and thoughts running endlessly. What can be done to stem this violent tide? How can we step off the path to civil war?

My worldview has been formed within a “Jesus” framework. I don’t say “Christian” anymore, because I’m not sure what that word really means in American society. However, whether or not one is a “Christian” or “follower of Jesus,” I believe Jesus, as presented in the Gospels, offered a, maybe “the,” solution. That solution is centered on love.

The kind of love Jesus emphasized is an others-focused, self-sacrificial love. It is a love that serves, that looks out for the best for others, that sets the lover’s agenda aside on behalf of the beloved. This love is revolutionary.

Love your neighbor…

Love your enemy…

When we are focused on loving other people, we cannot dehumanize them. We are too busy listening to them, looking out for them, and serving them. We’re preoccupied with learning more about them, what makes them tick, and being challenged, in a positive way, by the way they think. That kind of love is transformative. It changes everything.

I know this is pie-in-the-sky… until it isn’t. We’re so accustomed to our sick brand of political discourse, our violence, our selfishness, that loving others like this feels undoable. It feels foreign. It feels impossible, perhaps. And, it is fairly nigh impossible, honestly.
Real love is not conventional. It doesn’t come naturally, especially in a culture in which we’ve been taught to look out for ourselves. It is risky. I believe it runs counter to our natural inclinations.

But, if we have the courage to do it… if we can get beyond ourselves and truly learn to love each other well, especially the other, this is no longer pie-in-the-sky. It changes everything.