A Christian Looks at 2016 America

In the words of the great Senator Bernie Sanders, it's been a tough week.  Many of us here in the US went to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 8, believing that a woman had a strong chance to become president, at the same time hoping and praying that our nation would not choose a man with no discernible moral compass to lead the nation.  We woke to the news on Wednesday morning that this man had indeed been elected, not by the people, but by the Electoral College, a mechanism designed to shift power away from population centers towards more rural areas of the country.

Many of us have shared our disbelief, our fear, our anguish with friends in person and on social media.  We've offered support to those who may feel vulnerable in the wake of a Trump victory.  We've documented the rise of hate speech in a land where it once seemed as though diversity was going to slowly win the day.  It has felt so very surreal, so disconnected from the world we thought we lived in.

It is, in some ways, a new world now.  Old assumptions cannot hold.  Old ways will not move us forward.  Old alliances will not survive.  The old is passing away, behold, the new is coming.

But the new need not be dictated by the Trumps of this world.  The new order need not be one of racism, misogyny, bigotry.  The new may, in fact, be what we have been dreaming of, and working for, and praying toward for all the lifetimes of humankind.  The new opportunity here is to be Christ for a wounded world: to stand in love and solidarity with those whose voices have been silenced, to challenge the powers of corruption and exploitation which thrive in the dark corners of society, to be peace and healing even as we live in days of violence and pain. 

I have read of the deep sorrow of Evangelical Christians whose brothers and sisters voted for Trump because they could not vote for Clinton.  My Christian friends, our call is not to the wealthy and powerful, but to the disenfranchised, the unemployed, the unnoticed and unsung, all those whose lives matter, but who know they don't matter to those at the top.  That's who Christ came to serve and to save.  That's who we are to serve, wherever we meet them, however we can.  

Clearly the Democratic National Committee needs to reevaluate its position toward the people who have been left out of the so-called economic recovery.  Can the DNC reach out to progressive Christians and create a new coalition in support of the 99% of Americans who have been left out of both the economic recovery and our political process?  Can people of all colors, of all genders, of all religions and no religion reach out to one another in simple, humble respect and mutual care?  In short, can Christians dig deep and become part of a grassroots movement in response to the 2016 election?  

I believe we can.  More than that, I believe we must.  I believe it is our mandate from our Founder and Savior.  What shape it will take, who the new leaders will be, I do not know.  But I believe that if people of faith are also willing to become people of courage, then it will happen.  Indeed, in Christ, all things are possible.