What now? – Pastoral Backstory – November 10th, 2016
November 10th, 2016
The die is cast, the election concluded. Now we all await what a Trump presidency means for our fractured (and fractious) republic.
Some find this the best news in a long time–others like nothing short of a “gut-punch.”
Fear, which can be both a constructive and destructive force for change, in this instance played heavily in entrusting this power to our now President-elect–fear of losing important things, or of government continuing to overlook certain essential concerns.
But now fear lives in many who heard certain promises that at least sounded like honest threats. The fear that sought to empower is now felt by some who wonder if they’re about to be disempowered, or worse.
So one fear gives birth to another fear. And can anything sustainably and pervasively good persist in such a polis? Only if something else supplants it.
But for the church neither back-slapping nor handwringing seems a fitting or fully informed response to a political trajectory now prevailing through plebiscite.
So what now?
New chapters invite new considerations. But they also mandate renewed reflection on enduring wisdom. To go forward you often have to look back.
Greg Thompson (whom we’ve appealed to before—twice even) was until recently pastor of a sister church in Virginia, and is now Director of the New City Commons, a consulting organization invested in seeking the common good. He recently teamed up with Q Ideas to produce a series of talks (really, one talk serialized) on what is fundamental to the church’s task at this particular cultural moment.
While the nation (and the world) reels over what Tuesday’s election reveals about the state of our republic, the mission of the church requires attentiveness both to how things have changed but also to what ideas and practices must remain inviolable.
So Q asked Greg to summarize his thoughts on culture and the church and last week began posting excerpts of his talk on the six practices of the church that must form us for our future. You can go to the introduction to the series by clicking here. The first talk (which you can also listen to via iTunes) is posted below. Each week, Q posts the next talk (the third posted just yesterday). We’d love to hear your comments about Thompson’s recommendations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDWEh_0UX8
Doubtless you’ve heard many things in the last 48 hours about how the church might respond to this moment–priorities that don’t need elaboration. The Text is clear that we’re to pray for the governing authorities, and to esteem the gospel by how we live for the good of whatever city in which we find ourselves–even as we recognize that our citizenship lies elsewhere.
But this election has served to underscore for us priorities that might otherwise get lost. We need to listen and learn from those who have felt marginalized, as well as attend to those who fear marginalization. As the church is out to persuade everyone that we share a common dignity in the God who came for us in Christ, so that task entails a common regard for all irrespective of where they place themselves on the ever shifting political spectrum.
Fear, recrimination, malice, triumphalism, cynicism, indifference–these are our temptations in this tumultuous season. The Gospel has an answer for each. It’s our mandate to trust–and then to let that trust translate into the kinds of risk for love that reveal both our Allegiances and our hope.