As I look out at the different faces of people in our
congregation and as I place the bread in your hands I can’t help but know that
the current political rhetoric weighs on each of you in different ways. As a congregation of such diversity in skin
color, nationalities, and ethnicities I am keenly aware that the politics that
we each hold varies from person to person, household to household. We have parishioners who voted for President
Trump, Secretary Clinton, and none of the above. For various reason we each support, despise, are
stoic, or pragmatic toward one candidate or another.
Despite how people vote in elections none of the people
sitting next to you look down on others because of the color of their skin, or
amount of money in their pocket book, or political ideology. Better stated we are brothers and sisters
with different backgrounds, upbringing, and family situations who express the
love of God for one another by sharing the Eucharistic feast.
Having said that we all respond differently in thoughts and passions
to the rhetoric coming from our national political leaders most especially
President Trump. I had hoped to prepare
a definitive right and wrong statement on how we as Christians and as members
of All Saints can respond.
What complicates this is conflicting reports from differing news
agencies. Various personalities shed
doubt on the accuracies of what was said, who said it, and the dubious
reporting from politicians with questionable motives. What then can I say in this midst of all the ambiguity?
Further complication includes the open history of the presidential
rhetoric. His words are often
insensitive and inflammatory. It is
plausible to believe that he made disparaging remarks about developing or third
world countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations while
suggesting that immigrants from Norway are more preferable.
What can be said for certain is that these thoughts have been
reported to come from a meeting concerning immigrant status in our
country. The words are incendiary.
I’ll make a distinction that the words are nationalistic in
content not racial or ethnic in content. The comments are directed at societies
that are struggling to bring basic needs to their own civilian populations let
alone justice, equality, and other rights we take for granted in this country. None-the-less we closely identify these
nations with ethnic minorities in our own country, and so it is natural to
think of it as racial disparity.
How shall we respond to these words? From the Christian perspective the question
ought to be, “How do these words affect change in humanity’s relationship to
God?” Our purpose as the church on earth
is to restore relationship amongst men and women to God and to one
another. The words that have come from
the meeting do nothing to help in that endeavor.
They are rhetorically divisive and should not be uttered in
civilized conversation. Though
nationalistic, by extension they do not communicate mutual respect for the
dignity of persons. As Christians and as
citizens of this country we should demand our leaders to uphold the Constitution
and laws of this country while doing so with respect for personal dignity.
The president’s responsibility as leader is to create an
environment where ideas can be openly discussed without descending into base
criticisms that fail to recognize the image of God in human beings. As followers of Jesus our role is to model
this behavior and to call to task our leaders when they fall short. We shall continue to pray for our leaders by name and specifically that their hearts and minds be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ who himself fulfilled the law by mercy.
