Category: Witness

Choosing War Again

We are at war again! How easily we go to war! It is as if, having prepared for war with all manner of sophisticated weaponry, we cannot help ourselves but to use our weaponry. Is that because we have to prove how powerful we are?

I am referring to us as a people. Abraham Lincoln reminded us that we are “a government of the people, by the people, for the people” with the hope that our democratic form of government would “not perish from the earth.” We choose our representatives and president. We can choose presidents who are problem solvers for the American people or we can choose a president who is needy for power and make him our commander in chief, making available to him all manner of military power.

We the people have again gone to war. We have attacked Iran, and as with all wars, a rationale has been given by our president and many of our legislators. Apparently, we are going to be the Iranian people’s savior. We are doing regime change again. (How well has that worked in the past?) Or, at least, we will open the way for the people of Iran to make changes, as if we consulted them for what they needed. Iranian organizations working for change in Iran know, on the ground, what is necessary for change. We are not it. Nor does the destruction we bring help them: the loss of life, the children killed in an elementary school, a hospital bombed.

We the people are at war. By a majority, we chose our president and representatives, and the government we have chosen has taken us to war. Yes, our president has acted lawlessly. (There were no “imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” Politico) Nor did he consult with congress. But then we chose a lawless president. We knew he was lawless, if we were paying attention.

Each of us are responsible for the decisions we make, the actions we take, the leaders we choose, the witness we present. We witness from values we hold, from our sense of purpose in life, from what we live for. There are alternatives to war. Yet, we keep choosing war.

The prophet Isaiah envisioned a day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” For that day to come he exhorted us: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

Inherent to our humanity is the potential to decide to walk in the light of our Creator (the light is there for us) or pretend we are our own god and walk in the darkness of our deceit and make life hard for those we live with. A government of the people means that the decisions of a nation come through the people rather than a king. The people choose their representatives and their president. We do so in light or darkness (or some measure of both).

In this moment, we can make decisions about our government. We have agency. We can take stands, speak out, press for change, be witnesses to another way of operating, the way of “doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God.” We can be light in the darkness, if we will be open to the light.

There is an alternative to war. We have had difficulty accepting it or signing up for it. Jesus speaks it: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Filed under: Justice, Leadership, Peace, Society, War, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

We Do It Because We Can

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)

Come now, you who say we will go into such and such a nation and, having the military power to do it, will take hold of their government to bend it to our will which is to have their oil.

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.”

Never mind that over a hundred people are killed by our actions, families robbed of their loved ones. Never mind the loss of life. It is necessary to obtain access to the oil. After all, it is our oil. We lay claim to it. And we have the means to take it.

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.”

And while we are at it, having the military power we have, why not make Columbia bend to our will and Mexico as well? Why not take over Cuba and Greenland and Canada?

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.”

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:46)

Filed under: Evil, Society, War, WitnessTagged with: ,

Consider

”Consider whether the light in you is not darkness.” (Luke 11:35)

Jesus addressed a crowd with these words. He addressed people who were swept along by a crowd. He addressed those who were unable to discern what was happening around them. Many of them, without discernment, may have ended up in the crowd that cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus would have those in the crowd do some considering: “Consider whether the light in you is not darkness.” Consider whether what you call the light is actually darkness.

Jesus would have us discern the “signs of the times,” to recognize what is happening around and in us. So he spoke of spiritual blindness, the inability to discern our times and our motivations and our purpose.

Jesus said, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” It is possible for a whole crowd of people to be blind and guide each other toward a pit.

Therefore, ”Consider whether the light in you is not darkness.”

How do we go about the task of “considering”? We say we are enlightened, that we see, but what if we are blind? What if we assume we are in the light when we operate in darkness? Consider it.

The act of considering means we stop assuming. We ask the question, “Am I actually in the light or am I in darkness?” Is what I call light, actually darkness? Is what I call true, a lie? Is what I go after false? Is what I have been daily choosing false to my true humanity made in the image of God?

Jesus says, “Consider.” Consider motivations. Why do we choose what we choose and go after what we go after? Why do we choose the leaders we choose? What is it that we want when we make choices? Do we tend not to get beyond asking what is in it for us? Do we consider the effects of our decisions on others?

Does what we consider for ourselves bring light into our lives and into the world? Does it make us more open to others, more loving—since love is what makes relationships possible. Do we consider love? Do we consider and seek after the ability to love, to have compassion, to see the needs of others and respond.

”Consider whether the light in you is not darkness.”

These words call for self-examination. Jesus, addressing the crowd, may be speaking to those who have given little place in their lives for self-examination. They may have gone through life giving little care to their motivations, impulses, priorities—why they do what they do. To them he says, “Consider.” Finally, get around to considering.

Consider why you choose what you choose. Consider why you choose what you let into your life. Consider whether you let in light or darkness, love or hate, joy or bitterness, peace or war, hope or despair.

What we choose obviously affects not only ourselves but others. Our darkness adds to the darkness in the world. Our light adds to the light. Therefore, “consider whether the light in you is not darkness.”

Our nation and world need people of the light, people who see and speak from the light, and therefore are witnesses in the midst of darkness.

Filed under: Discernment, Humanity, Mindfulness, Spirituality, WitnessTagged with: ,

Who Is Responsible For Global Warming?

Lately, my wife and I have been wearing masks when we go outside, as smoke from the forest fires in Canada have reached the area in which we live. We understand that climate change is making these events more likely with drier conditions, increased wind and lightening strikes.

Many scientist are calling the time in which we live the anthropocene period. We, humans, are the creature that is having the dominant effect on the earth, bringing great change to the environment and to the earth’s climate. For years, we have pumped carbon into the atmosphere, trapping heat and warming our planet with the subsequent change of our weather patterns.

This change effects not only ourselves but all creatures on this planet. We are making our planet-home increasingly inhospitable to life. This situation is an issue for all creatures, but responsibility resides with humans to take the actions necessary to stop the destruction.

These actions will involve nations working together to bring about an end to the huge amount of carbon gases we are releasing into the air. The United States is the second worst emitter of CO2, China leading the way. As a step in the right direction, the United States joined with other nations in signing the “Paris Agreement,” from which President Trump, with his “drill baby drill” speech and attitude, has ordered our withdrawal in both of his terms, and has pushed against wind and solar energy in favor of oil, gas, and coal.

And yet our responsibility remains. The first chapter of Genesis, drawing from human experience, recognizes this responsibility. We read there that we “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” It is clearer than ever, in this anthropocene period of our planet, that we have “dominion.” With this power, we can be good stewards or bad. We can decide for life or death. We have a responsibility, whether we exercise it or shirk it.

Clearly, we have many leaders who refuse their responsibility. Nevertheless, we all remain responsible whether we choose to be or not. We are responsible for the leaders we choose. We are responsible for how we contribute to global warming. Each of us is responsible for gaining knowledge of the effects of our personal behavior on our environment and taking actions for reform.

Jesus called his followers to be witnesses whose witness can take many forms. We must join with others in witnessing to God’s care for life on this planet. We must exercise our calling to be good stewards of the earth and encourage others to respond to the needs of all creatures who share our planet-home. We must acknowledge that our life-styles must change. We cannot continue to operate the way we have. People of faith know about the necessity of repentance, of turning around, changing our minds, changing direction. That is what this moment calls for—for the sake, not only of ourselves, but of all creatures that share our home.

Filed under: Climate Change, Environment, Humanity, Society, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death – Part 2

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me.

St. Paul writes of our present age as evil. And that is how we experience it. At times, it seems that this evil age has convulsions and things get worse. We experience greater breakdown of the social fabric, breakdown in leadership, greater divisions. And we feel overwhelmed.

We are often then tempted to give way too much attention to what overwhelms us, way too much attention to the power of evil. With that excessive attention, anxiety and fear deepen, and we are tempted to lose heart, to lose our trust in God and to lose our way.

Of course, it is appropriate to give attention to what is happening in our society and the world, but not in such a manner that we become intimidated and fearful and despairing, as if God were not present and lovingly active in our lives. As if the Good Shepherd were not present to lead us.

Frederick Douglass, speaking at a gathering of abolitionists, bemoaned the setbacks in the movement and the intransigence of the institution of slavery. There were sounds of despair in his voice as he went on and on in this vein. At one point, Sojourner Truth simply stood up and called out, “Frederick, did God die?”

Sometimes we need someone like Sojourner Truth to speak similar words to us when we start to despair. Or, we need to be that person for someone else. All of us, at times, need reminding that God is present, that God is watching over us and making a way for us. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for our Good Shepherd is present to guide us.

Whatever the times we live in, whatever we face in our world, God has a way for us to walk in, and God sends the Holy Spirit to lead us in ever changing situations. Therefore, Paul can say, “We are more than conquerors through God who strengthens us.”

What Paul said about his approach to the time in which he lived, helps us in the time in which we live. Paul said, “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

That is a word for us in our present evil age. We are to keep it simple. Do one thing: “Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We are to keep our eyes on the prize. Keep our focus on God’s call. Seek God’s will in order to do it.

Every one of us has a calling (or callings) from God. Every one of us has work to do that God gives us to do. Every one of us has gifts and abilities, spiritual gifts for living out our callings, for serving others and being light in the world.

We do not all have the same gifts and callings, but each of us has a calling and a work that fits our gifts. When we are living out that calling in our homes and neighborhoods and workplaces and among people we meet and people we are sent to and in public witness, we are affecting our world. We are being the light Jesus said we were.

While we all have our individual callings, there are some things we know are God’s will for all of us:

It is God’s will that we meet together, that we be in community. That we pray and encourage one another. That we seek God’s direction not only as individuals but as communities of faith. That we exercise our gifts and God-given abilities in ministry within our faith communities which prepares us for our work in the world. That we do so empowered by the Spirit. And that we cast our anxieties on the Lord, knowing that God is our Good Shepherd whose rod and staff comfort and guide us.

Filed under: Discernment, Evil, Faith, Fear, Spirit, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Elon Musk, head of the newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency,” as one of his first actions, for all intents and purposes, closed down USAID. The richest man in the world cut off the flow of humanitarian aid, food and medical services to the poorest in the world.

With this early action, he made it clear that DOGE was not about efficiency. He told us that USAID had to die because it was filled with “Marxists” (whatever that means to him).

This action was emblematic of the targeting of other life-giving organizations: National Institutes of Health, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Education, among many others. Identifying and providing solutions to their inefficiencies is one thing. Destroying their work is another.

“We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”

Federal government funds for refugee resettlement have been cut off. Refugees, who had gone through the long process of gaining refugee status and were ready to come to our nation, were simply blocked. The doors were closed. Their lives were left in limbo.

One of the earliest actions of this administration was the scrubbing of DEI language and programs from across the government. Apparently, in the view of this administration, we are through working on a problem we have had throughout our history: the welcome of one another in our diversity, creating just environments and places of belonging for all. In the place of such work, we have seen the increased targeting of those who have been marginalized in our society. Our nation has become a more dangerous place for many people to live.

“We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”

Our president has a “vision.” He sees possibilities for a strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. He sees beyond the rubble, the destroyed homes, buildings, schools, hospitals. He barely sees the people of the land, their great loss and grief, the brutalization they have experienced, the death and maiming of loved ones, the daily trauma.

What he sees for Gaza is the “Riviera of the Middle East,” a beautiful playground for the rich. In order to achieve this dream, however, he must first move the 2 million people of Gaza, people who do not want to leave their homeland. Their resistance, of course, would mean a forced removal, and he would have to have a place to remove them to. He is pressing Egypt and Jordan to take them. They are not interested.

Of course, while he is working on this project, he is doing little to address the needs of the nation of which he is president. Instead of addressing needs that government can address, we experience the taking away of what is needed.

Jesus speaks of a spiritual reality when he says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Evil keeps carving out of what ought to be and leaves us with nothing.

“We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”

So, what are we to do when we are in the valley of the shadow of death? What are we to do when we experience the loss of care for others, the loss of compassion, mercy, humility; the loss of truth, of leaders telling the truth, the loss of leadership?

We must weep. We must grieve and lament. We must acknowledge our brokenness, our loss of love, our hardness of heart, our feelings of helplessness.

We must be still. And wait. We must be still and know that God is God. And wait. We must acknowledge God’s presence even if we do not feel it.

We must sit in the shadow, in the darkness and wait. Be open. Be prepared to see, to discern, to recognize next steps for witness and action, for certainly God has action for us to take.

And know that we are not alone in this. The love of God holds us together in community. Therefore, we must spend time with one another, pray for one another and together wait on God.

We must recognize each other’s gifts and various ways of serving and encourage each other. Each of us has a part. We must allow ourselves to be deepened in community—in a community that is sent into the world to be light in the darkness. We have work to do.

There is great power in the “body of Christ,” in the fellowship of a “people for others” and in the power of the Spirit at work in and among us, giving us discernment and direction for the work of love for this time.

And we know that “we can do all things through God who strengthens us.”

Filed under: Discernment, Grief, Leadership, Prayer, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

Grief, Healing, and Action

Many of us are grieving the reelection of Donald Trump to the office of president of the United States of America. We have seen his cruelty. We remember his separating children from their parents at the border. We have seen how he demeans and taunts others. We have seen his racism, sexism, and xenophobia. We have seen how he hooks into people’s fears, grievances, and prejudices. He manipulates and abuses human weakness for his own purposes.

So we grieve. We grieve the state of our union, our relationships to one another, our divisions.

Joe Biden has often said “That is not who we are,” when speaking of the kinds of actions and attitudes expressed by Trump. And yet the extent of our embrace of Trump makes him a mirror that reflects us as a nation. He certainly is not the only mirror, but he is one that reveals something of what is valued and pursued in our nation and how we view one another.

The truth is we are all broken. We need healing. We need deliverance. From anger. From self-absorption. From fear. From grievances. From the way we view and judge one another. We need to be freed from the hooks that a Trump can hook into.

We need to love one another. Those of us who are followers of Jesus have learned from Jesus that we are to serve one another with compassion and to witness to the love that is near and available.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

Harassed and helpless describes the human condition. In our helplessness, we need compassionate action in our lives. When we have come to know that compassion, we must share it. We must exercise it.

Compassion does not judge others; it does not write them off. But it does discern. And it does not remain silent. We must speak the truth in love. We must speak to the underlying egotism and self-absorption that alienates us from one another, alienates us from knowing or caring about what others are going through, confines us to our own felt needs and agendas and views of the world. Alienates us from Love. We must speak deliverance.

And then the compassion we experience must continue to move us outward in doing justice. When, for example, Trump starts rounding up millions of undocumented people, putting them into internment camps, separating them from spouses and children, in order to process them out of the country, we must stand in the way. We must speak out. We must call others to give witness to the injustice and work to make right what is wrong. Rather than add to the darkness, we must be light in our society.

Filed under: Compassion, Healing, Love, Serving, Society, WitnessTagged with: ,

Nations Become What They Decide To Be

The decisions we make manifest themselves in what we become as human beings. If we decide to get back at others for what they said or did that hurt us, and make a habit of such reactions, we become someone who operates from hurt and anger. On the other hand, if we decide to act from a place of love for others, regardless of how they act toward us, we become lovers of humanity—yes, of a broken humanity. If we have a habit of doing what Jesus instructs his followers to do, “turning the other cheek,” “loving our enemies, “praying for those who persecute us,” we are on a path of growth into our true humanity as children of God.

Our decisions determine what we become. We decide for our humanity or inhumanity. We decide to be lovers or reactors. We decide to give to or to get back at another human being. We decide what we become.

Nations decide what they become. In our nation, a congress, a president, a supreme court, and “we the people” decide what we will be toward each other and the world.

As a people, we have opportunities to decide what kind of nation we will be. We can be tribal in our decisions, reacting against others (owning the libs, or detesting MAGA people). We can make decisions from grievances and the despising of others or we can make decisions from a vision of wholeness and compassion.

In a democracy, even a partial democracy like the United States, the decisions of “we the people” regarding who and what kind of leadership we want, in some measure, provide us with the nation we have. The less we are an autocracy and the more we are a democracy, the more clearly “we the people” are responsible for what we get.

We are responsible for choosing a government that seeks justice for and the uplift of those marginalized or a government and nation that marginalize. We know that it is possible to decide for a government that annihilates a people as the Nazis did. Or, as we did, decide to institute slavery and then, with its abolition, decide for the continued marginalization and oppression of a people by implementing Jim Crow laws and by terrorizing a people with lynchings as the South did or by establishing racist policies, actions and mores as the North did.

Of course, if we care little for anyone beyond ourselves, our family, “our people,” our religion, then we will give little attention to the effects government and societal decisions have on people other than ourselves. We will not spend time trying to understand how others are affected by laws, policies, mores. We will, by our support, ignorance or simply not caring, keep in place laws and mores that maintain the oppression of others outside our circle. (Slavery remained for 250 years, Jim Crow laws for 70 years through a combination of support and/or apathy from a majority of Americans.)

However we think about our decisions as a people and a nation, we see what we have decided by what we have become. Germans must come to terms with the nation they became, a nation that was responsible for killing 6 million Jews. Many, at the time of the Holocaust, may have excused themselves by saying they were not voting for genocide, but the truth is the seeds were there in the rhetoric of Hitler and others.

Americans must come to terms with what we became, a nation responsible for the genocide of millions of Native Americans through displacement and massacre, and the death of millions of Africans who died in the Middle Passage and millions who were brutalized as slaves. Of course, coming to terms with our past means acknowledging the truth of our past. Our oppressive actions locally and globally remain, unless we acknowledge our wrongs and repent. Trying to rewrite or ignore these aspects of our history only binds us to past decisions and future acts of oppression.

We continue to decide what we become—especially by our decisions toward those who have been marginalized, excluded, pushed aside in our nation. Of course, what we become as a nation comes from the decisions of a cross-section of the electorate. What many of us would like to see is not even on the ballot, but must be lifted up and worked for though doing justice, loving mercy and living faithfully. Therefore, Jesus calls the children of humanity, who are also children of God, to be light in the darkness. We are to be witnesses to what we have come to know of the love of God.

Jesus spoke of the age we live in as an “evil age.” In this age, we are to witness to what we have seen and have come to know of our true humanity created in the image of God. Like yeast, we are to have an effect on the whole; we are not to force something on others, but to effect the decisions of others and our nation by our witness to the love of God that is good news for the oppressed, heals the brokenhearted and welcomes all.

Filed under: Decision, Humanity, Justice, WitnessTagged with: , ,

The Ten Commandments, Separation of Church and State, and Cultural Change

Louisiana passed a law that mandates the Ten Commandments to be hung in every public classroom in the state. On the face of it, if you exclude the first four of the ten commandments, the other six express what most people would regard as ethically desirable: Honor your parents, do not murder people, be faithful to your spouse, do not steal, do not bear false witness against your neighbor, and do not covet what belongs to your neighbor.

The first four are of a more religious nature. The first two call us from idolatry (the worship of images, extensions of our imaginations, and therefore of ourselves). The third has to do with not taking God’s name in vain and the fourth with keeping the seventh day holy by making it a day of rest.

The first four commandments clearly make this a religious document, that and the fact that these commandments are expressions of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is disingenuous to treat them otherwise in a nation that calls for the separation of church and state. It does not work to define the Ten Commandments as an historical and foundational document in the formation of the nation. They remain an expression of ecclesial traditions.

Furthermore, it is clear from the comments made by the mandate’s supporters that the intentions behind this law are directed to infusing a particular Christian worldview into the culture of the state. Clearly, there is a problem with the state espousing a particular religious view. It is a problem for the state and for the religion. We have had a nationalist Christianity from our nation’s inception which was capable of supporting slavery and the dispossession of the land from people indigenous to it. This was a Christianity without Christ—a civil religion, supportive of nationalist goals, and wrapped in Christian rhetoric.

Also, the idea of mandating or forcing a particular Christian view onto a nation and culture has nothing to do with the ways of Christ. This mandating of laws as a way to reform culture was not the way Christ operated. He proclaimed the nearness of God, of God’s reign or governance, and called people to turn to God. He called them to trust their lives to God. He focused on the first commandment that calls us to turn from idols to serve a living and true God. (Along with common idols such as power, money and pleasure, we can make an idol of the Bible, our particular beliefs, our forcing our beliefs on others, our self-made-righteousness, etc.)

The other commandments, within Jewish and Christian scripture, mean very little without the first. Jesus said the central call of God, as the Hebrew Scriptures express it, was to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbor as ourselves. From a place of trust in and love of God everything else about being truly human, made in the image of God, follows.

The reality of Christ and of God’s presence come not from politicians crafting legal mandates but from those who are light in the world. To his followers who were coming to know the reality of God’s presence, Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (from whom all good works flow).

Jesus reserved his harshest judgment for religious leaders who hammered people with their laws. He said, “Woe to you experts in the law! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.”

Jesus represents an entirely different approach to people and to personal and cultural change. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus operated by invitation, not mandates.

The change we need is a deep change in the human heart that laws do not reach, but which love does. This change cannot be forced. Mandates crafted by politicians, arrogant in their ability to force through legislation, do nothing to heal and liberate. Love and mercy bring true healing and transformation.

Filed under: Discipleship, Grace, Society, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

A Christian View of Christian Nationalism

By “Christian,” I mean a follower of Jesus who has come to view the world from the experience of “being in Christ.”

By follower of Jesus, I mean one who is being led to:

  1. Bear suffering in order to serve others. 1
  2. Serve rather than seek dominion over others.2
  3. Love rather than judge or condemn others.3
  4. Love enemies and pray for them.4
  5. Love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter who our neighbor is.5
  6. Do justice, love mercy and live faithfully.6

By the experience of “being in Christ” I mean that we:

  1. Participate in the reality of the crucified and risen Christ so that we die to the old in-turned self and rise to “walk in newness of life.”7
  2. Participate in Christ’s love.8
  3. Be led by the Spirit, rather than by religious rules, principles and beliefs which the “flesh” (the ego-centric self) loves.9
  4. Operate by God’s grace through faith, rather than legalistic moralism.10
  5. Trust ourselves, others, and all creation to God, rather than act like we are the ones who have the answer.

When Christian nationalism is viewed from the vantage point of following Jesus and participating in the reality of Christ, it is seen merely as nationalism with a Christian facade. It is an idolatry of the nation undergirded by Christian rhetoric, particularly in the form of “Christian” laws and principles.

Those who seek to bring back the “Christian foundations” of our nation hearken back to an earlier Christian nationalism, one, at least in part, inherited from Europe. They hearken to a kind of Christian morals and mores that existed as a dimension of our nation alongside its constitution, a Christian morality that for many included the institution of slavery and the dispossession of the peoples indigenous to the land. In other words, a Christianity far removed from the message and life of Christ—a Christianity quite capable of horrendous evil.

The present Christian nationalism carries forward the elements of this earlier nationalism, above all in its White (and male) supremacy. It downplays our history of racism, oppression, and injustice and discounts the primary roots of the American revolution and constitution in Enlightenment values.

Of course, there has been another much smaller stream of Christianity (which included European American Christians) that engaged in movements for the abolition of slavery, pressed for peace among nations, and sought social justice.

Above all, it has been African American Christians who, from their lived experience, brought radical clarity to the unchristian reality of our nation. Frederick Douglass called the Christianity of the slave-holding South and those Northern churches that continued to support their Southern counterparts as “sham religion.“

Black Christians continue to offer a critique and an alternative to White Christian nationalism. White Christians must listen to their voices—which means we must repent of our arrogance. By listening with open hearts, we will receive from those who experience the oppressive nature of White Christian nationalism.

The call to follow Jesus and participate in the Christ reality is a call to repent from all Christian nationalism, from all idolatry of nation and of whiteness and of ourselves, and all attempts to have dominion over others. Freed from idolatry, we are freed from feeling like we must secure “our Christianity.” We are freed from safeguarding what we have built (our false Christianity) and therefore freed to serve others.

Jesus calls his followers, not to dominate and bully others, but to be salt and light in the world, to be witnesses to God’s love and mercy in word and in action. At the heart of our witness is a welcoming love toward others that does justice, loves mercy and walks humbly with God.

  1. “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 ↩︎
  2. “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28 ↩︎
  3. “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” Matthew 7:1 ↩︎
  4. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 ↩︎
  5. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19 ↩︎
  6. “The weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” Matthew 23:23 ↩︎
  7. “We were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 ↩︎
  8. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 ↩︎
  9. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Romans 8:14 ↩︎
  10. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 ↩︎
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