Several months ago I mentioned in a sermon that regardless of who won our presidential election, God would still be God. I’ve found myself going back to those words again and again as I try to make sense of what happened on November 8th. Now, before I go any further I want to be clear that this article reflects only my own thoughts and fears, knowing that they might not be yours.
Almost twenty years ago I made a career change that brought me into ministry. I was drawn to this role for a variety of reasons but not the least of them was simply people. I found myself being drawn to others in a way I had not experienced before. Being a white male of the age I was at that time, one of the things I came to realize was what a sheltered and privileged life I had been blessed with. Something (God?) was drawing me to try to better understand the lot of those who didn’t grow up as I did.
This need to know more about “the other” and to recognize the light in them is what continues to inspire me in my interfaith work, my support of immigrants and immigration reform, not to mention the full inclusion of ALL into our church and denomination. To see our country electing someone who seemingly stands in complete opposition to these things has been difficult for me to accept or understand.
I had to keep asking myself: what was it about this candidate, one who I personally found so repulsive, that made him the choice of so many people? Does there really exist in our country such a strong undercurrent of racism and hatred of others? Or is it simply fear that drove this election – fear that everything that was held dear was being slowly eroded away? (I hear that in some of the responses of people who chose this candidate.)
I guess only time will tell and the next few years will provide the answers to those questions. So what do we do in the meanwhile? What do I do? I will tell you that my first reaction
to the election results was a desire to run away and bury my head in the sand. But I can’t do that. Just three weeks before the election, Julie and I were in Nuremberg, Germany. We stood in the very spot where Adolf Hitler filled his followers with the idea that all of their troubles were caused by one particular group of people and if those people could be eliminated, all would be well. In retrospect, one has to wonder how an entire nation could believe his words. Well, they didn’t. There were always those who continued to value the lives of others and who in many cases paid with their own lives.
America is and has always been a nation of immigrants. And if we believe scripture, we must believe that there is room for ALL, both in this country and most importantly, in our hearts. May it be so.
Pastor Andy