the problem with tribalism

“Tribalism is really a form of egoism. It's all about my people, my religion, me, me, me.”

                                Marty Rubin

_________________________________________

For the people of Israel

In the time of Jesus

Being part of the tribe was a big deal

We are the “children of Abraham”

To which Jesus, pointing to the rocky ground of Palestine succinctly replied

“Out of these rocks God can raise up children of Abraham”

Which is another way of saying “get over yourself”

They didn’t

And sadly, neither have we

I keep thinking about what is going on in our country

At all the ills, that seem to be multiplying

Like bed bugs on a mattress

And keep coming back to the same problem

The fact that we seem to look at reality through the myopic eyes of ego

It’s all about “me”

Why are people OK with kids in cages?

With terminally ill children being kicked out of hospitals?

With hungry children being denied school lunches?

With our natural resources being plundered by the very rich?

With angry people walking around with AR-15s

With women being minimized and oppressed?

And LGBTQI people being demonized?

(just to mention a few ills)?

Its all about what can only be called

Essential selfishness

Each of us focusing first on ourselves

Me First

America First

I come first

My religion comes first

My country comes first

My power comes first

My wealth comes first

And anything that I see as a threat

Anything I think will erode my wealth

My power

My privilege

Has got to go

Has got to be removed

Brown people?  Gone!

Black people? Incarcerated, put away where they belong!

Poor people?  Ignored (no way am I going to share any resources that could come to me with ‘them’, those lazy moochers, those pathetic losers)

The plant? Expendable!

My neighbor?  Inconsequential!

And so decision by decision

Cruelty by Cruelty

Abuse by Abuse

We are creating a “power over”,

privilege soaked world that is the antithesis of “the Kingdom of God”

A Kingdom which, by the way, we are to bring into being here, now,

by the way we love

(Yes, that really is what Jesus really implied!  Pay attention the next time you say the Lord’s Prayer)

At one point, Jesus called his key followers, the “inner circle” together,

and he told them this

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”

Right now we have leaders (in both the realm of politics and religion)

Who have chosen the wrong way to “greatness”

And the result is on the news every day

Every day, a new insult to the way of the Sacred

A new lie

A new abuse of power

A new capitulation to the politics of greed

A new assault on the way of compassion

And generosity

And healing

And love

What we are doing right now is no way to become great as a nation

It is no way to be authentic as a church

There is only one way

To do what Jesus taught

To let go of the tribalism that takes us into such dark places

To let go of the essential selfishness

And to go the way of essential generosity

And love