Thursday, January 7, 2020
I am still trying to process what I saw yesterday. Born and raised literally in the shadow of the Capitol, it has always been a symbol of freedom to me. One of the earliest photos my parents took of me was on Capitol lawn. My grandfather had often told me what it was like to live under the rule of a despot when Imperial Russia ruled Finland.
What we saw yesterday was a mob spurred on by an egomaniac who could not bring himself to admit that he had lost. We saw Rudy Guliani and Ivanka Trump calling this mob “patriots.” What patriot waves a Confederate flag in the Capitol?
Healing the rifts in our Nation will be difficult but it must start in the churches. As a people of faith we must work to restore faith in our democratic system. Before the Civil War, Christian churches split over the issue of slavery. During the Civil Rights era of the 1960s churches led the struggle for equal rights. Churches must step into the breach once more and act as voices for reason and civility and justice.
Prayer for the Day
Feeling like a people wandering in the wilderness, we come to you, O God,
For direction in healing the brokenness we experience as a Nation;
Disheartened by the violence we see around us, we come to you, O God,
And ask for your wisdom to guide us in this dark hour we now experience.
Embrace us and shelter us beneath your wings and give us the words
And actions we need to have at this time.
In the name of him who can show us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
- Isaac Asimov, American writer (1920-1992)
We have forgotten that democracy must think as it lives and lives as it thinks.
- Agnes Meyer, civil rights activist (1887-1970)
Hearken, O God, to my prayer; and do not ignore my plea;
Listen well to me and answer me. In my complaint I sway and moan
From the sound of the enemy, from the crushing force of the wicked
When they bring mischief down upon me and in fury harass me.
Psalm 55: 1-2 (Trans.by Robert Alter)