It seems like everyone is worried about control.

We have to control who is really part of our club. We have to control who is really part of the general population. We have to control culture itself.

It’s all about control.

Control is what our current administration’s “immigration reform” is all about. Its not about enforcing law or securing borders or “bad hombres.” It’s about keeping people who speak a different native tongue, and have slightly darker skin than our dominant culture ¹, from becoming permanently integrated into the United States. It’s about controlling the ethnic makeup of the country, and if you don’t believe that consider all the white supremicists who think the wall is a marvelous idea.

Control is about the disruption of our current political climate by both far right and left, who demand political purity with equal fervor. It’s what has empowered Steve Bannon to launch an assault on main stream Republicans ². The same impulse which has empowered Steve Bannon is what has led one of the two major political parties in the town next to mine into a minor uproar — people are arguing over the right to say who is really in the sandbox.

But perhaps the most desperate plea for control I’ve seen in a line while appeared on twitter this week, following the election of the first trans-gender person to the Virginia Legislature. This was the post,

https://twitter.com/andrewtwalk/status/928079632464785408

So, as a Christian parent of two children who see this fear-mongering rhetoric for what it is, both of whom no part of it, I will tell you what I’m doing to prepare my children for this “new” world ³.

I’m going to tell my children to love their neighbors, even when that love is not reciprocated. I’m going to tell my children to practice kindness ⁴, work for peace, to be gentle, to learn self-control when confronted by things which may tempt or stress them out, and to be patient with themselves and others as they seek to do good in this world. In other words, I’ll be teaching them to live out the fruit of the Spirit in the way of Jesus. Maybe they’ll even turn out to be better persons than I am ⁵.

But the point is, Christians are meant to be servants. And one thing about servants is, they are not supposed to be in control. And perhaps repenting of the desire to have control is our best path forward toward peace.