We are in this together

In an interview, I heard someone say that they wanted to restore “Biblical family values.” I have heard others use this phrase. Which Biblical family do you imagine they have in view? Was it the sons of Jacob who first tried to kill their brother Joseph and then sold him into slavery? Was it the family of Lot whose daughters got him intoxicated so that they could have children by their father? Was it the family of Jesus (referenced above) who tried to haul him away because they thought he had lost his mind? The people who most often use that phrase seem to have in view a kind of white, middle-class, heteronormative family out of a Norman Rockwell painting. There is baseball and apple pie involved, most likely.

While the families those folks have in mind are not seen in the Bible, the strategy of putting families first is a pretty good one in terms of popularity. After all, what kind of person, one may wonder, is anti-family?

Scientists point to one possible reason for this proclivity toward strong family ties: evolutionary advantage. They call this “kin selection”- your gene groups are most likely to be passed on when you are loyal to your kin. If you prioritize your immediate family’s success, your family members are more likely to reproduce, and their offspring will survive to also reproduce.

Consequently, those of us who have made it this far may be predisposed to think and feel that “family is everything” because of its increased chances of survival. I do not mean we do not really love or care for our families, but that there may be, according to researchers, some unconscious reasons for putting family first.

If we lean into “family first,” those of us part of the Christian tradition may find it really challenging to love the widening circles of humans Jesus called us to love. Neighbors might get some altruistic energy. But strangers even less. And enemies? Forget about it!

And the kind of love Jesus embodies and teaches for neighbor, stranger and even the enemy is relevant and helpful in an increasingly small world. We are in this together. If nations using vast resources continue to pump more carbon into the air, we are likely to continue experiencing changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, and a warming planet. The harm affects everyone, whether a smog-shrouded city or the fragile ecosystem of a Pacific island. We are in this together. I grew up in a Cold War era, aware that two nations could send missiles toward each other and end life as we know it for the whole planet. We are in this together. And, more recently, we all witnessed our interconnected world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as hospitals filled, millions died, and we saw the empty streets of cities all around the world, regardless of our form of government, religious affinity, ethnic makeup, or wealth. We are in this together. Family first, tribe first, or nation first is no longer a “winning strategy” when we are in this together.

Jesus taught about God’s life that is more than just surviving, more than just passing on our genes. In the Greek of the New Testament there are two words that get translated into English as “life.” One is bios and the other is zoe. Bios is our biological life, eating and excreting, the life of survival, which, of course, is necessary. But Jesus said we are here for zoe, which is animated life, what elsewhere Jesus calls abundant or eternal life, what the early teacher Paul calls the “life that really is life,” (1 Timothy 6:19). Zoe is the life that overflows, a life that is abundantly loving, just, and generous.

In our interconnected and increasingly small world, we need life and love that goes beyond surviving. When we let go each day of automatically living into me first, my family first, my tribe first, my nation first, and choose to open to the divine, choose to listen for the Spirit first, when we receive God’s love and grace and healing, we do not abandon ourselves, our families, our tribes, our nation — we better love them. And all people. When we love so abundantly, this is good news for all of us, because we are in this together.

Tucson faith leaders, we would like to include your original sermon or scriptures of encouragement. Sermons must be written by the person submitting them, not borrowed from another source or writer. If you are a faith leader from any religion or denomination, please contact Sara Brown at sbbrown@tucson.com.