Faith Matters | This is a time for each of us to ‘carry each other’ to a better future

“Is it getting better? Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame.” These words from “One”, perhaps the most recognizable of all of the band U2’s most famous songs, have been running through my head for the last several weeks. I have to write this article on Wednesday before it is published in print on Friday and, as of this writing, we do not know who will be the president of the United States in January. But it really doesn’t matter who wins — the blame has already started.

Accusations of hate, of voter fraud, of voter suppression have been floating around everywhere. There are words like “socialism” and “fascism” that have become far too easy to just speak into the wind. One of the only things that everyone seems to be unified about is how divided we have become and even that has opened windows of opportunity to cast blame. Somebody has to be responsible for all this mess.

Bono, the lead singer of U2, often finds himself baffled when he hears about couples using “One” as their wedding song. Despite its title, “One” is a song of resignation. It’s a song of fracture and heartache and lament. It hints at the idea that there was once “One” but there is no more. And, for many in this country, win or lose, the general feeling now is of resignation — that this is who we are destined to be as a people: fractured, broken, polarized.

Have you ever met someone who, having been through a divorce, thought that it was such a great experience that they highly recommended doing it again and again? No. That doesn’t happen because divorce is painful, even in the best of circumstances, and it’s humbling because we never go into marriage thinking that this could happen to us.

I wonder if we as a nation could collectively stand outside ourselves for a moment, if we might agree that these have been humbling times for all of us? Certainly it would be hard to argue that our behaviors, on all sides, have been stellar and without blemish. But, it’s so much easier to blame others than to take any personal responsibility for our actions or lack thereof.

In the Gospels there is a wonderful story of man who is so resigned to his fate that he is literally paralyzed. His friends decide to pick him up and carry him to Jesus. They get so close to Jesus, but the crowd was simply too big. The challenge of reaching Jesus, too daunting. So, the man resigns himself to perpetual paralysis and tells his friends “thanks for trying.” In the end, he could simply blame the crowds. But the friends do not give up so easily and they carry the man to the top of the building and lower him through the roof, squarely at the feet of Jesus.

Though “One” is a song of resignation, there is a line of hope when Bono cries out, “We get to carry each other. Carry each other.” This period in our history may seem so overwhelming that it has become paralyzing to us. And we do have the option here to resign ourselves to our current situation and blame the crowds. Or, we could carry each other in humility, in our brokenness, in seeking hope for our future together. We don’t have to, but we get to. We get to carry each other. Carry each other ... all the way to Jesus, who makes us one.

Faith Matters is written by members of the Bradenton clerical community. Rev. Hope Italiano Lee is the lead pastor at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church in Bradenton, www.bigreenchurch.org.