Relationships Still Matter

Around the world this month the faithful are commemorating the birth of Jesus and the advent of relationship with the divine. We’re reminded and moved by the willingness of God-made-flesh to dwell among us at our worst and to offer us a friendship that changes our eternity.  

One might even conclude – rightly, I’d argue – that humanity finds the ultimate meaning of life in relationship. (That one in particular.)

I’ll spare you my inadequate dissection of the Old Covenant and the sacrificial atonement. (If you want, we can talk later. Call me.) But boy haven’t we seen first-hand in Lansing these last few weeks how important even far more superficial relationships really are?

Depending on your politics and your perspective, it’s been the craziest of lame ducks. Or the lamest. House Democrats with the narrowest possible majority entered December with 56 different sets of hopes and dreams and, we’ve learned, far too little shared vision.

It turns out they don’t really get along. There’s been infighting and backstabbing and subtweeting. So much subtweeting. When one member decided in early December to head home instead of sticking it out through another frenzied and disorganized late-night session, the hopes and dreams of an entire political party came crashing back to earth.

Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the Governor’s office for the last 2 years and they’re on the verge of ringing in the New Year without a thing to show for 2024. 

Why? Relationships. Or, well, the absence of them.

Thanks to Elena Durnbaugh’s intrepid reporting in Gongwer earlier this month we’ve learned that the failure of a single relationship in the 56-member caucus (a one vote majority) threatened to scuttle literally hundreds of policy priorities.

The apostle Paul would describe Christ’s acts of sacrificial relationship as the ultimate demonstration of His love. “While we were yet sinners…” It might be hard to love your local politician or your business competitor, but what about getting a breakfast bagel?

What a difference a couple of cups of coffee and a phone call or two might have made in Lansing this month.

Relationships matter. They’re worth building. They’re worth nurturing. God literally knows they aren’t always easy, but being the bigger man – or woman – can make all the difference in the world. Or at least the House of Representatives.

I’ll tell you what, it’s all enough to get me motivated.

So get ready, Lansing friends and acquaintances. We’re doing lunch in 2025. We can talk about Jesus. Or whatever’s on the docket in Senate Insurance. I’ll probably even let you pick.