"At Rites for Russert, A Time to Mourn, A Time to Embrace"

At Tim Russert’s funeral last week, his son Luke requested that Senators McCain and Obama sit next to each other. He then from the pulpit exhorted them and other politicians to “engage in spirited debate but disavow the low tactics that distract Americans from the most important issues facing our country.” (It is obvious that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree on this one.) At the end of the service, the two candidates embraced. It was indeed a time to mourn and a time to embrace.

As I pictured that moment of the two candidates embracing some words from scripture came into very sharp focus for me:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old
has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from
God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us
the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling
the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are
ambassadors for Christ… (2nd Cor. 5: 17-20a)

As we move into this next round in the political season, I hope and pray that both candidates, and all those who will be advising them, can remember this moment, this embrace, this willingness to let go of their differences, so that they could be leaders together, Americans together, wanting and hoping and speaking the best for their country, and for this world, together. That is my hope and my prayer. Like many of you, I am tired and fed up with how polarized the political parties are right now, and have been. I am tired and fed up that there seems to be so little ability to compromise, to negotiate, to reach across the aisle, to seek not what is best for “my” party, but best for this nation and our connection to all other peoples and nations. I am tired and fed up with the lack of civility and sensibility and humility. I am tired and fed up the posturing, the obfuscation, the oscillating. Would that both parties and our whole political process could repent; that is, turn around; that is, make some changes; that is, soften its heart and enlighten its mind.

Now, what made John McCain and Barack Obama embrace each other at the end of this service? Now, it would be all too easy to say that Luke Russert had somehow embarrassed them to do so. After the son’s impassioned words—even prophetic words—about the political process, they would have looked churlish not to embrace, not to make some show of civility. Yes, that would be an easy position to take, and a cynical one. Maybe I am a bit of a idealist, but I am going to hope and pray that they embraced each other because they knew and felt that Luke Russert had spoken the truth and that his words spoke to their best and truest selves, the selves that first led both of them into politics. That is what, for now, I am going to believe about that moment—that it was a moment of truth and character, and that it was not a staged moment for the cameras or the press.

It is imperative for all of us as Christians to see and read these words from scripture not just in political ways, but also in personal ways. As Paul says, because Christ has reconciled us to God we are now called to be ambassadors of reconciliation ourselves. As the work of reconciliation happens between us and God—and I believe that this is a life-long, maybe even eternity-long, process—so we must commit our time and energies and words to being reconcilers in every aspect and in every relationship of our lives. Every. Reconcilers with God. Reconcilers with ourselves, our humanity, our limits, our mistakes. Reconcilers with those who are closest to us. Reconcilers at work. Reconcilers in our neighborhoods. Reconcilers in our extended families. Are we? Often not. Often we hold onto our grudges, nurse our grievances, share our unhappiness, foment mutinies, and augment disagreements. And what is the result from all this acting out? Pain. Loneliness. Separation. Grief.

So, who is the John McCain or the Barack Obama that you need to reach out to, to embrace, to move with to some higher ground? You know whom. Don’t pretend otherwise. We all have our lists. Well, it is time to shorten our lists. As we do that hard work of reconciliation, remember always, with gratitude, how Christ Jesus has reconciled us to God. He had to spill his blood to reconcile us to God. Often we need to shed our own blood—the blood of our hurt or pride or wanting to be in control or needing to be right—for us to do the reconciling work we need to do. Where does reconciliation in this world begin? You and me with God, with ourselves, and with each other.