We live in an unusual time, a time we’re not well prepared for.
It’s been 250 years since the start of the Revolutionary War, rejecting the autocratic dictates of a distant king. It’s 236 years since the US Constitution was ratified, now the oldest written and codified national constitution still in use.
Too many of us have taken the constitution for granted, failing to understand and value the balancing of power and protection of rights it offers. It was never perfect, but the 27 amendments, approved across two centuries, strengthened the underlying principles. As a US Senate webpage says:
It’s been 250 years since the start of the Revolutionary War, rejecting the autocratic dictates of a distant king. It’s 236 years since the US Constitution was ratified, now the oldest written and codified national constitution still in use.
Too many of us have taken the constitution for granted, failing to understand and value the balancing of power and protection of rights it offers. It was never perfect, but the 27 amendments, approved across two centuries, strengthened the underlying principles. As a US Senate webpage says:
For over two centuries the Constitution has remained in force because its framers successfully separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the federal and state governments.Failure to understand and affirm the separate, balanced powers is now putting us all at risk.
Can a presidential appointee disband an agency instituted by an act of Congress?
Legally, no.
Can a president allocate millions for his own created agency, bypassing laws regarding security clearances, federal oversight, conflict of interest and freedom of information?
Legally, no.
Can a presidential executive order reverse legislation passed by a state’s General Assembly, or suspend funding approved by the US Congress?
What happens when one part of the government insists on power over others, despite constitutional language making clear that’s not the case?
What happens when a president declares himself king on the White House social media page, and admirers celebrate with thumbs-up emojis?
We’re in the middle of that experiment.
In the few weeks since Donald Trump took office, the US has signaled friendship with Russia in opposition to NATO and freedom-loving allies. Long-standing European partnerships are in disarray. Shared work against global disease has stalled. Long-standing US safeguards against discrimination, disease, weather disasters and more are disappearing quickly.
We don’t choose the times we live in.
What we choose is how we’ll live in them.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring (volume 2 in the Lord of the Rings trilogy), Frodo, a small hobbit caught in the middle of a history-shaking drama, says: “I wish it need not have happened in my time”.
Gandalf’s response, “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us”.
Scripture gives many examples of times of trouble, and courageous responses. Joseph in Pharaoh’s court, Daniel in the lion’s den, Elijah facing down the hundreds of false prophets of King Ahab, John the Baptist beheaded by Herod’s henchmen.
I’ve been listening to podcasts from a mix of sources, trying to understand where we are, wondering what it means to be faithful, kind and courageous in such a strange, disorienting time.
Here are three I’ve found helpful this week:
From the Good Faith Podcast, a project of Redeeming Babylon:
- Adam Kinzinger Defends Democracy and Embraces Biblical Hope: A conversation with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger about the moral dilemmas facing political leaders and strategies for staying politically engaged without succumbing to rage or giving up in exhaustion.
- Checks, Balances, and the New Trump Era: A discussion with New York Times columnist David French and host Curtis Chang about the erosion of checks and balances and the importance of community and worship in confronting authoritarianism.
- Extremism and the Path to Peace with Elizabeth Neumann. Neumann is a national security expert, conservative Republican and lifelong Christian. She worked in Homeland Security under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and as Homeland Security’s Deputy Chief of Staff and assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the first Trump administration. She offers a security perspective on extremism, rage, grievance, and misinformation, and explores the challenge of loving our neighbor in this present political season.
In all the discussions, there’s a thread of concern about Christian formation. We are never fully prepared for unexpected challenges. Yet, if we’ve read scripture carefully, if we’ve developed a life of prayer and spiritual practice, we have the tools we need.
As the narratives of Old and New Testament remind us: power-hungry rulers are nothing new. Lies and cruelty are as old as humankind. Without wisdom and discernment we are easily held captive in ways that destroy community and peace.
How do we escape? That’s the challenge we’re facing.
Here’s what I know for sure:
Prayer is essential. Every day. All day.
For ourselves, our leaders, those we agree with and those we don’t.
Prayer for wisdom, courage, repentance.
Open eyes, listening ears, tender hearts.
Prayer for those hurt most by sudden shifts in funding, by sudden dismantling of jobs, protections, programs.
Prayer for provision, protection, restoration.
Truth is also essential. That means looking past the partisan sound bites and simplistic messaging. There’s no way we can know for sure what’s taking place. No way we can follow all the twists and turns and complications.
But we can refuse to repeat inflammatory, dangerous language. We can refuse to bear false witness against entire groups of people. We can dig a little deeper, ask for sources, speak out against obvious misinformation or hateful accusations.
We are all, also, called to do something. That something will be different for each of us, different each day. Some days it might mean befriending someone who has lost a job. Some days it might mean donating to an aide organization that is struggling to carry the weight of care while budgets are frozen and key contacts vanished. Some days it might mean listening patiently, while at other times it might mean speaking out clearly.
For me, today: I’m joining the 24 Hour Economic Blackout, loosely organized by The People’s Union. I’m also, today, posting this blogpost.
Tomorrow? I’ll be praying about that tomorrow morning. None of us can change the course of history. All of us are called to play a part.
How am I doing in all this? It's a question I'm asked, and one we probably all need to ask ourselves.
How are our hearts?
How's our mental health?
How's our spiritual health?
I’ll answer with a song I’ve discovered on my Porter’s Gate Pandora station. It’s by an independent singer-songwriter, John Lucas Kovasckitz, from the hills of North Carolina.
The song, Time, was included in his first go-fund-me album, Promised Land, released in 2017.
These lines catch me every time I listen:
There is a time to dance on sorrow
And a time to kiss her cheek
There is a time to mourn in silence
But justice aches to hear you speak.
And I don’t know the end, or tomorrow’s story
But I have found the one who gives me rest
And I will make my bed in His promises
For He holds true when nothing’s left.
The song echoes Ecclesiastes 3: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. But it also echoes the format of many psalms of lament: statement of a hard reality, then a reminder that God is our rest, and worthy of praise.
So crown Him in your mourning
And crown Him in your laughter
And crown Him when it all turns dark
Crown Him when you bury
And crown Him when you marry
And crown Him when your faith finds a sparkCrown Him for He’s faithful
And crown Him for He’s worthy
And crown Him for He is good
Crown Him for His promises
Cut through the blindness
Of children that have barely understood
The beauty that has come
And the beauty yet to come
And the beauty that is yours and that is mine
And that death produces life
And that we are made alive
By the King who paints beauty with time.
I don’t know the end, or tomorrow’s story
But I have found the one who gives me rest
And I will make my bed in His promises
For He holds true when nothing’s left...When nothing’s left.
