From the Rector
It has been eight days since the election, and despite many of us being elated at the results in what appears to be an honest and fair process, there is still deep division in our nation. Some forty-eight percent of us voted for a candidate who has proven over the past four years to have no respect for the rule of law, has used the office of the presidency for personal gain, and has fomented enmity between the rich and poor, black and white, citizen and immigrant. There is all kinds of speculation as to why this is so, why “good people” would support such a candidate who has, to say the least, destabilized our democracy. Even after a decisive election the president and his henchmen continue to sow the seeds of fear and division and untruths. We are not surprised, of course. This scenario has been planned and telegraphed for several months.
So what does this mean for us as followers of Jesus? Let’s remember… we are a people who care passionately for healing in our common life. We are a people who forgive seventy times seven the ones who wrong us. We are a people who practice empathy, walking in someone else’s shoes, and listening to other points of view. We say in our Baptismal Covenant that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, and respect the dignity of every human being. I don’t know about you, but all of those things seem so very difficult right now.
I am reminded of the process for dismantling apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990’s. After fevered negotiations over four years to bring about a just and equal political system, there remained still a profound mistrust among the people of South Africa owing to the persistent violence and terror perpetrated upon Blacks by the white ruling class over decades. Nelson Mandela and the new government created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to air out grievances, to uncover the truth of the terror of apartheid, so that healing could begin to take place.
The point is that truth precedes reconciliation. All of our practices as Christians operate under the auspices of truth. Before there is forgiveness, there is truth. Before there is empathy, there has to be truth. Before we can have meaningful conversation, there has to be truth. There are many pundits in and outside of the church saying, “We just need to listen to each other… everyone’s opinion is valid.” I’m saying, not at the expense of the truth. We don’t listen to falsehood, lest we become captive to the evil of illusion and abdicate our witness and our responsibility.
Certainly there will come a time for enlightened conversation, a time for forgiveness, a time of generous forbearance; but the truth comes first. And how we stand for the truth matters. We stand for the truth in love, but love has no patience for falsehood. Perhaps it is courage that we need for the days ahead. O God, give us the courage to will and persevere in the truth, so that God’s love will be sown in the fecundity of our divisions, and that Love will at last, ramify.
