Aliens in America: Day 27

Bridging the Divide  

‘As aliens, live in reverent fear’ (1 Pet. 1:17). 

Elections are always polarizing. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the “dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14) I experienced between men and women in this one. Sexual extremes and dishonor drove campaign narratives. 

Kamala attempted to rally women around ‘reproductive freedom,’ knowing abortion rights were key to many women, especially the college educated. Trump leveraged the frustration of aggrieved men who feel underrepresented and disempowered. He surrounded himself with guys of all kinds—tech bros, podcast bros, and fighting bros—but mostly he appealed to working class ones that the elite left behind.  

These guys rallied around Trump and elected him. Trumpers seem to want women’s respect in a traditional way. I wonder: can a swaggering president with a womanizing past promote a style of leadership worthy of following?  

A little humility could go a long way. Trump models a masculinity that challenges everything and everyone but himself.    

Extremes. We talk a lot about misogyny at Desert Stream, but I’ve never heard the word more in national news. It describes something real and evident. A brutish Trump tore down his opponent and her friends (Pelosi) with a host of expletives; Vance stooped equally low, committing to take out the ‘trash named Kamala.’ And this in his last campaign speech!  

Come on, guys—reach higher and truer. Men deserving of women’s respect don’t revert to junior-high-bullying.  

Kamala overreached with language, too, branding Trump as fascist. (Can we stop invoking the H word for every powerful person and platform we dislike?) I’m also frustrated by the “good” she purported to do for women. Conflating abortion rights with women’s healthcare does nothing to champion the good of a woman, especially her gift of bringing forth life. This is misogyny (dishonor of females) and misandry (dishonor of men)—in sum, misanthropy (hatred of people) through exercising ‘power’ over prenatal persons.   

One thing Kamala did well was show me how fractured the right-to-life movement is in America. We need to change that. The election is behind us. The fight goes on.  

Women, let’s stop fighting for a right to kill the life within and consider instead the privilege to bring it forth.  

Trump and Vance, please repent of misogynistic language and treatment of women. I pray that God challenges the new administration to use power to dignify all women in its midst. May Trump and Vance lead other men to do the same.  

A female president who used intellect, wisdom, and heart to engender life through her governance, including compassionate policies for mothers and children? I’d vote for her. 

We all need healing (and a little applause for surviving this grueling election season). And we need each other. 

That’s why I love Living Waters. It offers a space for men and women to confess their shameful treatment of the other and to take ground in repenting unto respect for him or her. It’s a safe and dynamic place to learn how to honor one’s own sex and the other in words and deeds.  

Both men and women need this but in different ways. Trump is right: men are frustrated by the elite. And the wound of misogyny deepens in women through frustrated men who misuse power.  

Living Waters helps us all to restore honor between the sexes. Together, we can take down that dividing wall of hostility. We can learn how to be true and stop undermining or dismissing the gift of the other. Men and women can rediscover lost fullness together.  

The election showed us how divided we are. Let’s bridge the gap. 

‘Jesus, Your Word declares the Cross as the way forward: only You have assumed our divisions in this one Body so we can become a united front again, man for woman, woman for man. Heal us so we can represent You better in our love for each other.’  

‘Jesus, You are the King, and we are first citizens of Your Kingdom. Would you free us for You in this election season, not to hide but to shine? You’ve always asked nothing less from Your elect whom You have made ‘strangers in a strange land’ (Ex. 2:22). Here we are, a people who don’t know what to do but who look and listen to our King.  

“Father of all holiness, 

guide our hearts to You. 

Keep in the light of Your Truth 

all those You have freed from the darkness of unbelief. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.”’ 

Amen