Personal Reflections, Post-Election Moving Faith Forward
In light of this week's election, which left many angry and sad, I created a Post-Election Moving Faith Forward guide that moves us through the three steps.
I wrote out my own processing of the political landscape here to give you a glimpse of what it has been like for me to go through these steps.
Step One: One belief I no longer hold in the same way is that Political action and progress are the measure of how we are “doers of the Word” (putting faith to action).
Background: The Baptist world in which I grew up was shifting away from focusing on life after death and toward life here on earth. To compensate for the years that preachers focused solely on whether you’re headed to heaven or hell (which was assumed to be the way to talk about life after death), preachers began to focus on right now (engaging in social justice issues to make real change for people hurting right now).
Alongside this change, our national landscape has placed greater importance on secular institutions (politics) and practices (“self-care”) in place of religious life, which is now deemed irrelevant and disillusioned (especially amidst “thoughts and prayers” after mass shootings). With all this combined, I’ve crafted over the years an unacknowledged belief that the measure of our faith is how well we act and engage in political action on behalf of the most vulnerable. There have been seasons where that belief has flourished, but as the political landscape seems bleak, this belief can lead toward a sense of helplessness and despair. Shadi Hamid’s article in the April 2021 issue of The Atlantic says it best, “America Without God,” addressing how Americans, now without religious hope for everything being fine after death, are expecting its government to make everything alright now.
Step Two: A belief that has carried me through is that God has good intentions for the world. I won’t ever fully understand how we will get there, and I won’t see it in my lifetime, but I believe that God’s Reality is true at the end of the day.
Background: For a recent class I taught at my church with the youth, I talked about zooming out to see the bigger picture at play, which is especially helpful when we’re so zoomed in on an issue that we can’t see past the stress of it all. I thought through what I believe about God, the future, and what I can expect from my lifetime - which is another way of talking about life beyond death rather than just talking about heaven and hell. I’ve realized that I need some sense that there will be a future where all is well, even as it may not be in my lifetime.
Here’s what I came to:
I believe that there will be a day when God’s Reality will come into existence in all its fullness:
We will be at peace, forgiven for our wrongdoings, and healed of our hurts.
We will know the extravagant measure of God’s love for us.
We will live forever with God, at one with all creation.
God’s Reality has existed from the beginning and always will, but I live now only with glimpses.
God invites me into that Reality through Jesus, our companion, guide, and sibling who shows us how to live God’s Reality in human form. When we imitate Jesus, we become part of the glimpses revealing God’s Reality in our lived experience.
In my lifetime, I will hurt others and myself. I will endure suffering, evil, and death. I do not understand how and when God’s Reality will come to its fullness, and I will remain frustrated with its slowness when I suffer and witness others’ suffering.
But I find the glimpses of God’s Reality to be deeply good and true, offering me strength and hope for life here and now.
Therefore, I place my hope in God’s future, love extravagantly as God loves, endure trouble bravely and patiently, and practice forgiveness (asking for it and giving it), no matter the changing circumstances.
Step Three: Already, I can prepare for God’s Reality by forgiving others and myself for not living up to my expectations.
While I stress-baked apple crumble on election day, I reviewed what I no longer believe (because placing all my spiritual eggs in the political basket is leaving me resentful, angry, and depressed) and what I claim to believe (one day, we will be at peace, forgiven and healed). I decided that the most radical thing I could do would be to preemptively forgive because I know that in my lifetime, things will not be perfect, but I also believe that all shall be well one day. It would probably be better to say trying to forgive, working toward forgiveness, because the effort and intention matters most.
As I read the news, I remembered the choice I had already made: forgiveness. Not because anyone had done anything to deserve it nor because it takes away my anger, but rather because I believe that in God’s Reality, we’ll all get there one day, so I might as well start preparing for it now.
