{"id":674,"date":"2024-03-11T09:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T14:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reflectionsintheknight\/?p=674"},"modified":"2024-03-11T09:38:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T14:38:02","slug":"get-outta-my-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reflectionsintheknight\/2024\/03\/get-outta-my-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGet Outta My tribe!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cGet Outta My tribe!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing new. The Old Testament reading from 2 Chronicles 36 starts with, \u201cIn those days\u2026 the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord\u2019s temple\u2026\u201d Then St. Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter 2 that they, meaning humanity before Christ, \u201c\u2026were dead in [their] transgressions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a word, I blame tribalism. Tribalism is more than just being organized into a tribe. It\u2019s a way of life and thought. You naturally hang with people who look like you, who act like you, who speak like you. You feel more comfortable with them, and there is a natural shorthand of thought. You know what your friends and neighbors are going to think, say, or do before they do it. It\u2019s comfortable. It\u2019s lazy.<\/p>\n

The point is that the more we act blindly as members of the tribe, the less we listen to that deep inner voice\u2014the voice God put inside us. The more I turn off my conscience and listen to people inside my bubble, the deeper I dig my trench.<\/p>\n

\"Public
Have you ever seen or been a part of a march? Mob mentality takes on an emotion all its own. As the saying goes, \u201cPeople are smart, mobs are ignorant.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Little Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many years ago, I was in Dresden, Germany, singing as the US invaded Afghanistan after 9\/11. There was quite a bit of tension politically in northern Germany, as it had the largest ex-pat population of middle easterners in Europe. They would work menial and manual labor jobs for pennies on the dollar. They were (and are) hard-working and caring people, very loyal to Germany, but they also still held a love and admiration for their homelands.<\/p>\n

One warm afternoon, I was walking down to the river near the opera house and happened onto a family of four: mother, father, and their son and daughter of about 12 and 14, respectively. There was no question they were Americans. The man wore shorts and a tee shirt that read, \u201cAmerica! Love her or leave her!\u201d\u00a0 The wife\u2019s shirt was emblazoned with a picture of a rifle and the words \u201cAmerica First, Last, and Always.\u201d The children\u2019s shirts were just as pro-American as the parents.<\/p>\n

Typically, these tee shirts would not cause a second look in Chicago, Kansas City, or Houston. But this is Dresden, Germany, with a very high Middle Eastern population. They stuck out. As I continued to the river, I noticed the start of a large anti-American protest forming. There were at least 500 worked-up people carrying placards and chanting something that ended with the word \u201cAmerica!\u201d that did not sound very friendly. After seeing the protest form, I knew that the American family I\u2019d just passed was about to stroll right into the middle of it, and quickly went back to them.<\/p>\n

When I reached the family, I told them of the protest and suggested they continue on a different path. That\u2019s when the unexpected happened. Tribalism at its finest. The father said, \u201cWhat kind of an American are you? We don\u2019t run and hide. We live in the best country in the world, and we\u2019re damned<\/em> proud of it.\u201d I tried to reason with them, but it was no use.<\/p>\n

Not wanting to be in the middle of a protest, I went and had a cup of coffee in an outdoor caf\u00e9 and watched the protest go by. It was loud and raucous. I waited to see if the American family would be foolish enough to wade into the middle of it. Luckily, they were nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

The next day, I ran into them again, bags in hand, and headed for the train station, as full of as much bravado as the day before. This time, it was the mother who said, \u201cIf these people don\u2019t see that America is the greatest country in the world, then we don\u2019t want to be here. We\u2019re leaving!\u201d And with that, they hopped on the train to the airport.<\/p>\n

\"Public
Why are many of us guilty of tribalism? In a word, laziness. We are too lazy to check the facts for ourselves from reputable sources.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tribalism closes ears. It blinds people\u2019s sight to what God\u2019s Will is for them. It makes gods of countries and \u201cinfluencers.\u201d Tribalism has a bad habit of turning people\u2019s gaze inward, to themselves and their own group, instead of toward people outside and in need. \u201cThe Others\u201d almost automatically become \u201cthe enemy.\u201d \u201cIf they\u2019re not one of us, they must be wrong, bad, evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how do we stop tribalism from destroying us? The princes of Judah in 2 Chronicles didn\u2019t manage. They were soon overrun and sent into exile. \u00a0By listening to that inner voice more than the talking heads and biased chatter. By taking the famous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, \u201cFor God so loved the worlds that He sent His only Son\u2026\u201d from John 3 to heart. By believing that we are all in this together. That we all need to believe God sent His Son to act as not just a go-between but as someone who reunited us with God\u2019s original Will for us. Then, we need to act accordingly. We need to stop beating the drum of our own tribe and start helping those who no one claims. Or better yet, become a people without tribal borders.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I blame tribalism. Tribalism is more than just being organized into a tribe. It\u2019s a way of life and thought. You naturally hang with people who look like you, who act like you, who speak like you. You feel more comfortable with them, and there is a natural shorthand of thought. You know what your friends and neighbors are going to think, say, or do before they do it. It\u2019s comfortable. It\u2019s lazy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[500,503,315,506,494,497],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirational","category-uncategorized","tag-2-chronicles-36","tag-ephesians-2","tag-getting-along","tag-john-3-16","tag-tribalism","tag-us-vs-them"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cGet Outta My tribe!\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I blame tribalism. Tribalism is more than just being organized into a tribe. It\u2019s a way of life and thought. You naturally hang with people who look like you, who act like you, who speak like you. You feel more comfortable with them, and there is a natural shorthand of thought. You know what your friends and neighbors are going to think, say, or do before they do it. 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