Red, Wise & Blue
I was raised in a politically/religiously balanced home. My father was deeply engaged in politics, and my mother had only one thing to say on the matter: “Politics stinks to high heaven.” For her, it was a distraction from the ultimate concern of life, which was faith in God. Politics concerned itself with the things of this world, and, in a way I respect to this day, she wanted nothing to do with the things of this world. She wanted only to devote her life to God.
I have spent most of my life trying to find that religious/political balance. Whether I like it or not—I realize as I get older—I have the blood of my mother and the blood of my father in my veins. I have always wanted to be as politically engaged as my father, and at the same time I am so much my mother’s son: I want only to devote my life to God. Not in the pietistic way Mom saw that life quest, but, no matter—we are joined at the heart.
It used to be easier to integrate the religious and political in our lives, because politics hadn’t become the average American’s full-time job. There were always some firebrands, but for most of us it wasn’t our primary identity. It didn’t suck the air out of every dinner party. And religion, no matter the label, generally saw itself as equipping people with a moral and ethical framework in which to make their voting decisions. Republicans and Democrats sat happily side by side in the pew, usually without even knowing or caring about the party affiliation of their brother or sister in Christ.
All that is gone, and the political undertow has become a rip current, pulling us all in over our heads. The next few months are going to be ugly and traumatic. If we don’t center ourselves now, and decide that we’re not going be passively pulled into the maelstrom, we will be drowning daily in depression, fear, anxiety and anger.
Between now and November I want to be as politically engaged as my father, and as anchored in God as my mother. I can do both. But I must know which comes first. My infinite self-in-God can never be crammed into a red or blue party, but a faithful life of political action fits nicely inside my soul. That means I don’t want to get up in the morning and start scrolling my phone until I have sat for a few minutes in silence, where I know I am only required to be faithful, and leave the results to God, where I discover—if only for a moment—how to care deeply, and care not at all.
Care deeply and not at all – perfect! Thanks, David
That is so hard to do–can only get there by some miracle of grace!
The reaction to polarization has caused some people to double down even more on their partisan purity even if that means estrangement from the people they once called loved ones and the churches they once called home. Others have sworn off politics like an alcoholic and their alcohol. “I’ll never touch the stuff again!”
You call us to a balance, but one that guards the sacred and prioritizes the immanent and transcendent, a balance that can withstand the forces of culture fighting furiously to click-bait us into warring factions. We need more of this. Thank you David.
Not everyone starts from this point–but if we’re people of faith, it’s where we need to be.
But, really, this is personal for me–I can just feel myself getting pulled into that maelstrom and I get depressed and anxious. It would be easy to just adopt my mother’s position–“politics stinks to high heaven”–and be done with it. But to be both politically engaged AND divinely centered…that’s hard for me to do.
I can say that this country has gone through many trials and tribulations. I thank God that some of us are not guided by the majority of thought but by God and his Words. I pray that we come to our senses to be a little kinder, respectful, and God like ❤️. Pray 🙏🏾 and hope are the strongest weapons we have to fight with against the misguided people of thought. We have to band together as Christian because we have a fight on our hands,
“to be a little kinder, respectful and God like”–count me in for that!
My Dad (who is 87) stopped talking and doing trips to the beach with his best friend from childhood because of their political differences. I tried to explain to him how utterly ridiculous this was but he wouldn’t hear it. It’s utterly ridiculous. His best friend passed away last year.
I’m not in the vicinity of pious like your Mother David but I don’t really care about politics. Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or whatever unacceptable option is put in front of us doesn’t change the way I go about my day.
I have never seen ONE person change their political affiliation because of an amazing point the opposing affiliation made – but I have seen plenty of friendships dissolve for the same reason. So I prefer to understand all opinions and have my own, but would never try to sway someone else.
“I have never seen ONE person change their political affiliation because of an amazing point the opposing affiliation made – but I have seen plenty of friendships dissolve for the same reason.” That’s painfully true–and I think the story of your father is, sadly, one we’ve all seen in our circle of family and friends.
Yes, Amen to everything you say.
And I especially like the simple suggestion to start each day not with scrolling but with silence. That’s mostly what I do. And my days go better when I do, so thanks for that reminder.
Yes, when I travel (which we’ve been doing a good bit recently) I get off my usual morning routine and after a week or so, I miss the quiet. I can just feel the noise and jumble inside.
Great message and reminder during this time! The only thing I would differ with is that people do change whether we see it or not. I know I have changed both spiritually and politically over the years and I am sure that talking with and listening to others helped the process. So don’t stop talking and debating and posting, just do it with kindness and with a little humor sometimes? And don’t forget to vote Trump, just kidding!
You’re right, Mark–it’s true, as the earlier comment noted, that very often people are unmoved by “an amazing point the opposing affiliation made.” But if we’re open hearted enough, as you are, we can actually be moved to change our views.
For me, being politically active isn’t about a person or a party. It’s about our government working together to create “liberty and Justice for all”. We need to serve everyone’s needs; loving our neighbor as ourselves.
That’s right, Ann–very often we think “politics” necessarily means party politics. But essential politics is simply a deep interest and commitment to the way we organize our society, the way we govern ourselves, the way we create community. You don’t need a party to do that work–and often, as we know, a party actually gets in way.
I come from a family of labor union organizers. My earliest memories center around my grandmother’s kitchen table being the place of heated deliberations. My red wagon was often commandeered to carry huge pots of soup and loaves of bread to the strike lines. I grew up knowing and living that “all politics is local” and “the personal is political.” It doesn’t get any more local or personal than being able to feed your family.
Our church was also very supportive and active. “Father” would always come by the strike line to offer counsel and prayer, words of hope, and a blessing. The Parish Hall was a place to gather and organize as well as to get groceries and, sometimes, shelter. Faith and religion have never been separate for me. I have always believed what I heard a UMC Minister preach, that, “Justice is the public face of God’s love.” As a preacher, I’ve always been inspired by Karl Barth’s admonition that, “A preacher needs a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other.”
That was until 2016. Until Christian hypocrisy rose in ascendancy hand-in-hand with Christian nationalism. Until Truth was just putting its shoes on while Duplicity had already run three times around the world.
It’s hard, these days, to balance faith and politics, even for someone like me. It often feels an impossible vocation. Thank you for calling us to it, David. Anyway. I have never been more out of balance. Thank you for reminding me to “Breathe before scrolling”. And maybe add to that “Pray after scrolling.”
Thank you for calling us to the impossible. What else is Christian hope for?
Thanks for that wonderful background story, Elizabeth–I didn’t know your upbringing days–and that helps explain the way you’ve so mightily and yet deftly offered your ministry. I agree that we have to hold up something larger than Christian Nationalism (trying to cram an infinite God into a the little box of a nation). We just have to do that in a way where the means match the ends. And that’s hard soul work.
Thank you David. You got me off my chair. I so appreciate the grounding and the open acknowledgement of the discomfort. You are speaking to the few who are listening. The futility is not just the current discourse, nor that the center has shifted as the right has expanded. It is that so many of us have stopped listening to one another. Somehow any disagreement has become personal. So, changing the channel feels better than expending the effort to understand, and easier than creating the room for respect, and the simplest way to stifle one’s discomfort. My ache is that we’ve lost the stamina and willingness to seek to be understood and to understand.
So track with your assessment, Art—and your ache really capture the emotion so many of us feel. Especially that last line echoing with the prayer of St Francis.
I turn to poetry to calm and ground myself, particularly when I am anxious and distressed by world events. The growing political chaos in the U.S. brings to mind the poem “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats. The first few lines are:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
What do we when things start to fall apart? Breathe. Pray. Try to wean ourselves off the media, although that’s hard to do. The empowering question to then ask ourselves is:
What can we do?
As an American I reflect on my certain unalienable Rights: “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. I have been so disturbed recently that these Rights have been trampled ! Like Sonia Sotomayor, I fear for our democracy. What can I do right now to feel better? Share my feelings with all of you (check), and make a phone call to the Supreme Court to express my discontent.
Breathe, pray, seek community support—that’s right on.