The midterm elections are over, thanks be
to God. The yard signs have mostly disappeared, the TV ads are back to hawking
pharmaceuticals, and my snail-mailbox is nearly empty once again. Life is grand.
But isn’t it interesting that, as soon as
the campaigns are over, the next national campaigns begin? Even before we know who will control the Congress,
the chatter isn’t about “how will they govern?”; it’s about who will lead the Republicans
for president in 2024 … and, for that matter, who will lead the Democrats. Who will lead us through inflation, climate
change, threats of war, natural disasters?
We know better than to expect any candidate to bear our hopes and
quell our fears. But still, deep down,
we long for someone to show us the way through dark times.
If you think we’ve got problems, imagine
being a Jewish person living in Jerusalem in the late 60s, 30 years or so after
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Revolutionaries led a revolt against the Roman
Empire starting in the year 66. Before long,
blood was running through the streets of Jerusalem, and the Temple was destroyed.
It’s hard for us to imagine the impact of such devastation physically, nationally,
and spiritually. The Temple was the White House, the Capitol, and the National
Cathedral, all rolled into one. For centuries,
Jewish kings had governed there and priests had offered sacrifice, honoring the
God who made this Temple his earthly dwelling place. The invading Babylonians had destroyed it 600
years before Jesus’ time, but the people had rebuilt it on an even grander
scale. Then, in the blink of an eye, the
Roman army brought it down and, with it, any nationalistic aspiration for the
Jewish people. All that remained of that
grand structure was the western wall, called the Wailing Wall as a reminder of what
happens when nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom and false
messiahs put themselves ahead of the people’s interest.
To make sense of the Gospel story today,
you have to remember that the Gospels were written after these things had
taken place. The Gospel writers saw
their nation devastated and remembered that, years before, Jesus had warned such
things would come to pass. He had railed
against the religious leaders, calling them to get over themselves and their
power, and focus on the needs of the people they were supposed to be
serving. And when they ignored him, he pronounced
the ultimate judgment – since you’ve walked away from God, he said, “Your [Temple]
is left to you” (Luke 13:35).
So, the reality of this national disaster
was very fresh in the minds of these small worshiping communities whose Gospels
helped them remember and proclaim Jesus’ story.
The revolutionaries in the year 66 had been looking for a savior, but
the followers of Jesus were remembering how he’d said, no – don’t follow the
pretenders, for they will surely fail.
And when they fail, even fail disastrously, don’t lose heart. For “by your endurance you will gain your
souls” (Luke 21:19).
It might be understandable that we’d be
looking for a savior, too. Some of us of
a certain age may be able to hang onto the vision of our nation that we learned
and lived in earlier days, when those elected to govern us actually governed
together. We Baby Boomers might hold onto
that vision – discouraged, yes, but not dismayed. But that’s not so for those coming along after
us. A new national survey by Harvard’s
Kennedy School of Government found that among Gen Z Americans, those 18 to 29 years
old, only a quarter said they see the United States democracy as even functional,
much less successful. And almost 60
percent of them rated our democracy as in trouble or already failed.1
As Jesus implied, our leaders will almost certainly
disappoint us. The political horse race
may be interesting to wonks like me, but even once the election results are in,
the winners will not lead us to salvation.
So, where is our hope?
Our hope is in the spirit of people like
Debra Waldorf. Our hope is in the spirit
of you and me. Our hope is in the holy
endurance of people who follow the way of Jesus Christ, knowing that our true
healing comes only from living God’s way of love. In fact, our hope is in the healing love we
bring to bear on the world around us. It
flows from our hearts to bless the corner of God’s world we’re each given to serve.
That can happen here at church. It can happen in ministries we share with our
outreach partners. It can happen in your
workplace. It can happen in the way you treat
your spouse or raise your kids. It can
happen in the steps you take to serve people whose needs differ from yours. It can happen in your advocacy to local
leaders to prioritize the well-being of people who are hungry and houseless and
lacking opportunity. It can even happen
in the halls of the state legislature or Congress. As Debra said, it’s the choice, day by day, to
let even the worst experiences we endure form us into instruments of healing
love.
So, back to those Gen Z’ers, 60 percent of
whom think our nation’s democracy is in deep trouble. Well, the same survey also found this ray of
hope: 40 percent of these 18- to 29-year-olds
said they “definitely” planned vote in last week’s election, and another 16
percent said they probably would be voting, likely breaking the record for that
group’s midterm participation.2
That means around 56 percent of these young adults who see so much
darkness in the future also see themselves as instruments of light. You don’t take the trouble to vote unless you
believe your vote has the power to bring change. I think the veterans whom we honor this
weekend would salute that exercise of the democracy they fought for.
So, perhaps this snapshot of voting behavior is a parable of the kingdom for our times: Yes, the world may make us fearful. We may look around and see earthquakes, fires, floods, and plagues; nations invading other nations or rattling their nuclear sabers. Personally, we may feel under assault, sure that the villains in the other party want to take away our rights and rule by fiat. And leaders who do put their own selfish agendas ahead of national interest will indeed lead us astray, as autocrats have done through the ages. But this is no time to abandon hope and fear our demise, personally or nationally. God’s path of love is blazed by each one of us choosing to take our pain and our brokenness and use it to heal ourselves and those around us. After all, we are the Body of Christ. We are the head and the heart and the hands of the Savior we’re looking for.
1.
Harvard
Kennedy School Institute of Politics. “Survey of Young Americans’ Attitudes Toward
Politics and Public Service, 44th Edition: September 29 – October 14, 2022.”
Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/168VzF4eZz-4GyrJRBKbPeIa3Emww-uiv/view.
14. (A narrative report of the survey’s findings is available at https://iop.harvard.edu/fall-2022-harvard-youth-poll.)
2.
Ibid,
3.
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