Stay the course...
By now we've all had our fill of people's opinions about the 2016 Presidential election. Quite frankly, it's getting out of hand. Rest easy, I'm not here to talk about riots or racists or any of those things. This is a letter home, an internal affair if you will, a letter thats addressed to my fellow Jesus loving, Scripture totin', guidance seeking, prayerful, faith-filled Christians. Let's chat.
This election motivated the Christian vote like none has done in quite a while. A majority of Evangelicals and Catholics voted for Trump in the hopes that he would restore some of the policies that closely align with our morals. His 'Johnny come lately' Pro-life stance probably tops that list. The church was uncharacteristically out spoken and passionate about this election. She motivated, she rallied, she inspired and here we are on the other side of the fight, victorious. I personally did not vote for Donald Trump but I would be remiss to say that I wasn't happy to see him defeat Hillary Clinton. I think my reasons for wanting to defeat her were the same for most Christians. First and foremost, we want to defend the defenseless and we realize that we can't do that unless we first start with defending those in the womb. We want to defend the family, the smallest, strongest most vital cell of society. We want to defend religious freedom and our right to worship and live in ways that do not compromise our faith. These things are important , nay, non-negotiable, and she did not offer a path to salvage them. So, we turned out in droves to vote for Trump,(or if you're like me somebody else), not because he is vile and rude and horrible in so many ways but because those 'non negotiables' that we hold dear are more important than his character, or lack thereof. And so we are relieved, happy, thankful and we can rest a little easier now that its all over and we are on the side of the winner. But should we?
As I said, this post is not to explain to the world why good people can indeed vote for such a man. This message is a challenge for us, for me, for you, to stay the course. This is an invitation not to become comfortable in our "victory". "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." says Tertullian. In other words, sometimes we are our strongest and best selves when we have to fight for what is true. Historically the church has grown the most in times of persecution. Why? Because being willing to die for what you believe in is courageous and inspiring and it not only grows your own faith but the faith of those next to you. Because the smiles of the martyrs tell us that they know the end of the story and that its blindingly beautiful. We've been fighting for so long, little David's with our slingshots perpetually in the air. We are tired and we would like very much to rest. It's tempting, so tempting, but we cannot. Alas, Donald Trump is not our savior. There, I said it. (saying it out loud makes it sound all the more ridiculous, doesn't it?) If he follows through he may indeed change many things that allow us to breathe a little easier. Policy can change law, it can save babies (SAVE ALL THE BABIES!!!), it can protect our families and our faith and our liberties but it cannot brings hearts to turn to the Lord. That is a job that God does, through us. We have to share our faith, in word and in deed, and we do that most effectively when we realize we have nothing to lose. For now, it seems, the law may be on our side, at least in ways that it has not been in recent years. In some ways thats super exciting. But in other ways it is contrary, or at best, irrelevant to our mission. Will laws help the church to grow? Maybe. Will it save souls? It might. But those cases will be few and far between.
Our friends and neighbors are angry, hurt and scared right now and I can assure you they will not see this change in leadership as an opportune moment for conversion. So, what do we do? I think, simply put, we keep being who we are. Be a good friend, neighbor, sister and stranger. Be kind, Be good, Be helpful. Genuinely LOVE the people around you. Make an extra effort to reach across the aisle and sacrifice for the betterment of others. Be magnanimous! Be brave and unapologetic about the truth that sets us free. Be transparent, be honest, be holy. Be humble. Be true. Be beautiful. True beauty, is a balm for a broken world. It leads us to the Good and ultimately to the Truth and that my friends will set us and the world free.
This election motivated the Christian vote like none has done in quite a while. A majority of Evangelicals and Catholics voted for Trump in the hopes that he would restore some of the policies that closely align with our morals. His 'Johnny come lately' Pro-life stance probably tops that list. The church was uncharacteristically out spoken and passionate about this election. She motivated, she rallied, she inspired and here we are on the other side of the fight, victorious. I personally did not vote for Donald Trump but I would be remiss to say that I wasn't happy to see him defeat Hillary Clinton. I think my reasons for wanting to defeat her were the same for most Christians. First and foremost, we want to defend the defenseless and we realize that we can't do that unless we first start with defending those in the womb. We want to defend the family, the smallest, strongest most vital cell of society. We want to defend religious freedom and our right to worship and live in ways that do not compromise our faith. These things are important , nay, non-negotiable, and she did not offer a path to salvage them. So, we turned out in droves to vote for Trump,(or if you're like me somebody else), not because he is vile and rude and horrible in so many ways but because those 'non negotiables' that we hold dear are more important than his character, or lack thereof. And so we are relieved, happy, thankful and we can rest a little easier now that its all over and we are on the side of the winner. But should we?
As I said, this post is not to explain to the world why good people can indeed vote for such a man. This message is a challenge for us, for me, for you, to stay the course. This is an invitation not to become comfortable in our "victory". "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." says Tertullian. In other words, sometimes we are our strongest and best selves when we have to fight for what is true. Historically the church has grown the most in times of persecution. Why? Because being willing to die for what you believe in is courageous and inspiring and it not only grows your own faith but the faith of those next to you. Because the smiles of the martyrs tell us that they know the end of the story and that its blindingly beautiful. We've been fighting for so long, little David's with our slingshots perpetually in the air. We are tired and we would like very much to rest. It's tempting, so tempting, but we cannot. Alas, Donald Trump is not our savior. There, I said it. (saying it out loud makes it sound all the more ridiculous, doesn't it?) If he follows through he may indeed change many things that allow us to breathe a little easier. Policy can change law, it can save babies (SAVE ALL THE BABIES!!!), it can protect our families and our faith and our liberties but it cannot brings hearts to turn to the Lord. That is a job that God does, through us. We have to share our faith, in word and in deed, and we do that most effectively when we realize we have nothing to lose. For now, it seems, the law may be on our side, at least in ways that it has not been in recent years. In some ways thats super exciting. But in other ways it is contrary, or at best, irrelevant to our mission. Will laws help the church to grow? Maybe. Will it save souls? It might. But those cases will be few and far between.
Our friends and neighbors are angry, hurt and scared right now and I can assure you they will not see this change in leadership as an opportune moment for conversion. So, what do we do? I think, simply put, we keep being who we are. Be a good friend, neighbor, sister and stranger. Be kind, Be good, Be helpful. Genuinely LOVE the people around you. Make an extra effort to reach across the aisle and sacrifice for the betterment of others. Be magnanimous! Be brave and unapologetic about the truth that sets us free. Be transparent, be honest, be holy. Be humble. Be true. Be beautiful. True beauty, is a balm for a broken world. It leads us to the Good and ultimately to the Truth and that my friends will set us and the world free.
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