For many of us it’s a scary time as we witness a president who can say and do anything, seemingly with impunity. He brags about his female exploits, and conservative white men and women trip over themselves to get into his rallies and join the throngs standing behind him (strategically placed, of course—notice how cameras are positioned to rarely show the crowd in front of the podium?). He says outrageous things like needing an I.D. to buy groceries, and his Fox friends nay say a word about it (it’s all over MSNBC, CNN, the very successful and still highly regarded New York Times, as well as outlets like Politico and Huffington Post—I know, they’re all colluding to promote “fake news”), all the while blaming Democrats for…everything (not to say they aren’t culpable in this mess, but they did not force you to say crazy-making things, Mr. President), including the government shut down that he said he was going “own.”
The Onion, the satirically self-described “America’s Finest News Source,” is streaming-crazy and can’t keep up with all the material the current administration is giving them (though Stephen Colbert seems to be doing quite well these days). Their July 26th headline says it all: “Trump Vindicated After Rest Of Leaked Recording Reveals Him Urging Racial Reconciliation, Calling For Interfaith Dialogue, Condemning Gender Inequality.” I love the smell of sarcasm in the morning! Yes, even at 10:17 a.m.
We live in the snope.com era, with Russia’s genius use of Facebook (ironic, really) to help the fantasy-fact machine during and after the 2016 presidential election, with all kinds of crazy-making about Hillary Clinton’s dealings oversees (omg, enough with the emails! What about President Obama’s birth certificate—you’ve let that go, right?), her emails still keep finding their way into the defensive rhetoric, and somehow she is still being blamed for Bill’s infidelity (someone explain this one to me). Now the Democrats are to blame for the government shutdown because they won’t give the President what he wants (despite the fact that he agreed to a funding bill passed by the Senate in December, but was not brought to a vote in the House because the President got berated by the hosts of Fox and Friends and announced he suddenly changed his mind and wouldn’t sign the bill … Who’s running the country again?). The Russia investigation moves forward as more and more of the President’s “men” are indicted, moving us ever closer to the Constitutional question of whether or not a sitting president can be indicted. The list goes on … and on … and on.
So what does any of this have to do with faith or coffee? Well, sadly, this is all I read about when I’m drinking my coffee in the morning. And I keep asking myself: What is the faith community doing during all this?
One thing the faith community is doing is trying hard to combat the hatred and prejudice spewing from the White House by planning events, caravans, and humanitarian aid to those at the U.S. border who have legitimate claims for asylum (as they flee U.S. perpetuated violence), but who are being held at bay under the lies of being terrorists, drug dealers, and disease carrying hosts.
The faith community is joining forces with secular groups like the Phoenix Restoration Project to provide housing, food, and assistance to those being released from detention centers and dumped (literally, dumped, with no food, water, or means) at bus stations in downtown Phoenix and other cities along the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
The faith community is rallying to raise awareness of the dramatic change in our earth’s climate and the danger it is posing to life around the globe, let alone human life. The faith community is challenging the dismantling of the EPA and all the hard work that has been done to clean up the air over our cities. We can see the San Bernardino mountains from San Bernardino, California! Twenty years ago, the mountains were covered by an ugly brown haze of smog from Los Angeles and Orange County.
The faith community is also praying, praying hard. We are praying for our President (whether or not we voted for him), and for his advisors, that somehow the carnival that is our government these days will end and we can all escape the craziness of the not-so-fun house. We are still feeding the hungry. We are still reaching out to care for our elderly. We are still comforting the bereaved. We are still being the Church (capital “C”).
One thing we are not doing often enough is calling out the President on his lies and misbehavior. Why? Because we are afraid of the I.R.S. revoking our nonprofit 501(c)(3) status, which bars us from “influencing legislation as a substantial part of [our] activities and [we] may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates” (quoted directly from the irs.gov website). First of all, my dear fellow preachers and church-goers, calling the President out and calling into question the morality and ethics of the present administration is not in violation of section 501(c)(3), so long as that is not all we’re doing (I imagine we are doing a whole lot more other things). Plus, we are not acting out against the President as a candidate for office, but as a public servant who has sworn to serve the people and “protect” the Constitution, not try to manipulate it.
As followers of Jesus, we Christians have a moral obligation to challenge the “powers that be” when they are against the people, especially when the poorest or most vulnerable are getting hurt. Jesus challenged not only the Jewish leadership in his time, he directly (though carefully due to rules about such things resulting in someone ending up being hung on a cross … hmmmm) challenged the oppressive and, in his mind, illegal rule of the Roman Empire (they violated God’s laws and teachings). For us, there is no division between our Christian faith and engaging in politics—they are one and the same.
So, let us be brave (acknowledging our fear, but moving forward and doing what we are called to do anyway) and speak the gospel truth—Caesar Trump is not Lord! In the words and hopes of Luke who gave us Mary’s song of prayer as she pondered what was happening:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Luke 1:46-55 (NRSV)
This is what it means to “be the Church.” This is what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. It’s more than feeding the hungry (and feeding them is important!), it’s also challenging the socio-economic and political conditions that result in hunger. It’s more than welcoming the immigrant (and welcoming them is important and biblically based!), it’s also challenging the conditions that are resulting in their desperate fleeing and crossing the border illegally, putting themselves, our Border Patrol agents, and their families at risk.
So, please support your local faith communities that are doing all this amazing stuff by getting involved, raising questions and awareness, and calling on our religious leaders to step up and out of their comfortable offices and conference rooms to lead by example, taking risks for the sake of the gospel and radically inclusive love and compassion. And if you haven’t found a faith community yet, I encourage you to find one so you, too, can be a part of all the blessings God is pouring into the world. If you’re in the east valley of Phoenix, come check us out at UPC. You’ll find welcome. You’ll find people who want to wrestle with the issues facing our world through the lens of our faith. You’ll find people who are worried just like you, and who find hope in the love of God which fills us every day.
This is me seeing the good and hopeful in the midst of the terrible and disturbing.