Healing and Unity

 I am genuinely heartbroken at how divided our country has become!
 
And what makes this even more painful is that our country is desperate for leadership that will bring healing and unity, but instead, we have leadership that thrives on division. Rather than calming tensions, naming our shared humanity, or “calling us toward our better angels” as Abraham Lincoln said, our leaders continue to say and do things that inflame fear, deepen resentment, and pit us against one another. Division isn’t being challenged; it’s being rewarded.
 
That matters very much because when those at the top model contempt instead of compassion, outrage instead of responsibility, it gives permission for the rest of us to do the same. And far too often, Christians fall right in line, mistaking loyalty to power for faithfulness to God.
 
If we’re waiting on politicians to save us, we’ve already missed the point. Unity was never going to come from the White House. It was always supposed to come from the Church; from people shaped by love, humility, repentance, and courage. But that requires us to stop echoing division and start embodying the way of Jesus.
 
And yet…
 
People are losing their minds over Bad Bunny, a wildly successful Latino artist, a U.S. CITIZEN, performing on one of the biggest stages in the world. And let’s be honest about what’s really bothering some folks: it’s not the music. It’s not the performance. It’s who he is.
 
What’s almost funny, if it weren’t so sad, is how angry people are over a performance that was truly amazing. It was beautiful. It was joyful. It was full of culture, rhythm, pride, and artistry. Nothing about it was threatening… unless you already feel threatened by cultures that aren’t centered on you.
And honestly, none of this is new.
 
Every year, many Christians seem to find something to be outraged about when it comes to the Super Bowl. A few years ago, it was Black athletes kneeling during the national anthem in peaceful protest of police brutality. Those protests were dignified, nonviolent, and deeply Christian in their moral vision for justice; calling a nation to live up to its own stated values. And yet what I heard from many Christians, what I even heard from the pulpit, was some of the most vitriolic, angry, dehumanizing rhetoric imaginable. Not curiosity. Not compassion. Just outrage baptized as faith.
 
The hypocrisy is exhausting.
 
The same people who rage about a Latino artist being celebrated will gladly walk into a Mexican restaurant, order tacos and margaritas, enjoy Spanish music, and consume the culture without a second thought. Culture is acceptable when it’s convenient. When it entertains. When it stays “in its place.” But the moment that culture is honored, centered, and celebrated on a national stage, suddenly it’s a problem.
 
Then out comes the “All-American” language.
 
And let’s be clear about that rhetoric. “All-American” has been used before. Just like the Roman’s 13 that folks like to throw around. It was used to justify segregation. It was used to exclude Indigenous people from their own land. It was used to shame civil rights leaders for bringing “politics into faith.” It has always been a tool, not of unity, but of control.

Because when many people say they want something “All-American,” what they usually mean is white and Christian.
Not diverse.
Not multilingual.
Not inclusive.
 
That has nothing to do with Jesus.
 
This pattern isn’t about protecting faith. It’s about protecting comfort. Instead of engaging culture with humility, curiosity, and compassion, we demand that it bow to our preferences. We baptize our outrage, call it “righteous anger,” and convince ourselves we’re defending God, when in reality, we’re defending our idols: control, power, and the illusion of moral superiority.
 
Take and moment and imagine how powerful it would be if all the money, energy, and outrage poured into creating a self-congratulatory “Christian alternative” were redirected toward actually doing the things Jesus commanded: feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, caring for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and loving our neighbors in tangible ways. That would look far more like the Gospel than a protest disguised as worship.
 
As a Christian, I find this deeply unchristian.
 
Jesus never told us to fear other languages.
He never told us to reject other cultures.
He never told us to love our neighbor only if they look like us, worship like us, or make us comfortable.
 
If a joyful, culturally rich performance upsets you more than injustice, cruelty, or the way we treat our neighbors, then the problem isn’t the halftime show.
 
It’s our hearts.
 
This country is at its best when we celebrate the full humanity of its people… not when we disguise exclusion as holiness.
 
Love your neighbor.
ALL of them.

God of justice and mercy,
We come to You with broken voices and trembling hearts, because the world has forgotten who we all are to one another, and too many of us have learned how to look away.
 
What is happening around us is not okay.
Children are suffering.
Families are being torn apart.
Violence is excused.
Cruelty is explained away.
And silence has become more comfortable than truth.
 
Lord, this is not Your will.
We confess that we have allowed politics to matter more than people.
That we have chosen sides instead of choosing love.
That we have defended systems instead of defending the vulnerable.
Forgive us.
 
Break our hearts for what breaks Yours.
Shatter our indifference.
Disrupt our comfort.
Do not let us call injustice “necessary” or hatred “normal.”
 
Teach us a love that is fierce and costly.
A peace that refuses to coexist with oppression.
A compassion that crosses borders, beliefs, and lines we were told not to cross.
Where fear rules, pour out courage.
Where lies are preached, raise up truth.
Where power crushes the powerless, stand in their defense, and move us to do the same.
 
Remind us that every life bears Your image.
That no law, no leader, no ideology ever outranks human dignity.
 
Make us restless until love wins.
Make us uncomfortable until peace is real.
Make us bold enough to say with our lives: this is not okay, and we will not accept it.
Heal this wounded world, O God.
And begin with our hearts.
 
Amen.
 
Yours In Christ,
Saul Ibbara, Jr.