Week One—Holding Faith in Divided Times: Introductions & Definitions

Creating Safe Space

       Welcome to Holding Faith in Divided Times! My hope is precisely that: to find together reasons for faith—and hope—in a divisive and painful time. As we near the election, you may be feeling a lot of things: anxiety, hope, anger, determination, despair. Quite possibly you are feeling more than one. Part of our time together will include practices like reading Scripture in new ways, prayer, focused breathing, and community engagement—all things that can help us manage anxiety and lean into hope.

              The book we will read together by Jim Wallis is very insightful, but is hard on Republicans. Some of us might resonate with that, but remember there may be conservative voters here as well. I want to acknowledge this may be difficult, and  celebrate the courage it takes to come here with an open mind, able to be challenged. So let us show grace to those who might struggle with the content.

       Be assured I will not tell you how to vote or ask you to commit to a party. We will avoid as much as possible talking about particular candidates, but will focus on theological issues that have arisen within Christianity that are changing the political landscape. But at times the overlap will get messy.

       So again, I thank you for your courage. We will strive to make this a diverse but safe place to wrestle with the themes we’ll look at. I want you to feel safe to disagree with Wallis, with me, or with each other.

       Most of us here are Christians. This will be where we’ll find common ground. So, we will be grounded in scripture and in prayer—focusing on one particular passage each week. If you find yourself too busy or even too offended or irritated to read the Wallis chapter one week, please join us in prayer and Scripture.

Resources:

       We will read one chapter per week from the book The False White Gospel by Jim Wallis. Among other books I’ll draw from (on the resource list found on our website):

       David Gushee, Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies

       Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory

       Greg Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation.

       Soong-Chan Rah, Prophetic Lament

Exploring power: and its abuse

       Our discussion this week began with the question: Who is the most powerful person in the US?  The answers were varied.

       The question of power is illustrated well in a clip from from Game of Thrones that can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpL6Fwu0wkw

       In the clip, Varys concludes: "power resides where men believe it resides... and a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”

       This workshop is about who we believe has power, and the true nature of power.

Defining our terms:

       To have challenging but grace-filled conversations, we need to be sure we’re speaking the same language. So we set the stage by establishing some basic definitions, drawn from David Gushee’s, Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies. Gushee defines democracy as: “a political system in which the people choose their leaders and in which civil rights and freedoms of all are protected by law.”

       While there are no democracies in the Bible, we are able to see some biblical principles that support democracy: values like the intrinsic worth of every human being, and the importance of giving voice to those marginalized or powerless. We can also see many biblical warnings about the misue of power or unjust governments.

       Gushee warns that democracy, like all political systems, is distorted by unjust concentrations of economic and social power as well as unchecked capitalism without concern for the common good. Therefore healthy democracies undertake constant efforts to redistribute power more fairly.

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       Gushee also warns of four challenges to democracy: authoritarianism, fascism, nationalism, and racism. Authoritarian political behavior is characterized by rejection of or weakened commitment to democratic rules of the game, denial of the legitimacy of political opponents, toleration or encouragement of political violence, and a readiness to curtain civil liberties of opponents, including the media.

       Madeline Albright defines fascism as: “an extreme form of authoritarianism... linked to rabid nationalism... power begins with the leader, and the people have no rights... A fascist is someone who... claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals.”

       Fascism often exploits religion. The abuses and control demanded of fascism need that sense of divine authority to justify violent acts.  Values around sexuality, gender, marriage, family, and children are considered authoritative and unchangeable by many conservatives, a factor that is then exploited by fascists.

       Nationalism is a more extreme form of patriotism which has negative judgments of other countries, lack of concern for the people in those nations, and desires a greater role for their own country in global affairs.

       Gushee identifies racism at the heart of these all these threats to democracy. Racism is “America’s original sin: the sin of white supremacy... white Christian nationalism is the single greatest threat to democracy in America and to the integrity of the Christian witness.”

       Gushee’s discussion paired well with our reading for this week: the introduction and chapter 1 of Wallis’ The False White Gospel. Wallis writes that the strategy of white supremacy is to “prevent our changing demography from changing our democracy. It is a commitment to white minority rule by any and all means necessary: covert and overt voter suppression, racial gerrymandering... restricted immigration, electoral denial...judicial bias... and, when all else fails, the promotion of political violence.”

Leaning into hope:

       These are demanding times. They can be frightening. They can be heartbreaking as relationships are strained and even broken by conflict. And yet, we will find this as well to be a time of opportunity, and a time for hope. In our work together we can begin to forge a renewed vision for the American church. Wallis writes, “The crisis of white Christian nationalism can not only clarify what we are against, but also help define what we are for.” May we lean into that hopeful vision for the future.

       Lord, may hope grow and dwell in our deepest hearts. Let us be people who stand alongside those who are often overlooked, and open our eyes to see. Amen.

Preparing for next week:

       Each week we will engage in three spiritual practices together as a community. We will read one chapter of Wallis’ book, pray for the future of both our nation and the Church, and meditate and perhaps journal on one key Scripture passage. The last two are particularly important: Let us spend the 40 days leading to the election together in a community that is yearning and working toward justice for all.

       For next week, we will read together ch. 2 of Wallis’ The False White Gospel, and pray and meditate on Luke 10:25-37.

       We will begin next week with two key questions you might want to ponder or even jot down a few notes ahead of time:

1. Is there someone in your friend group who believes differently than you? How can you find common ground?

2. Are the Christians you know generally more positive or negative re contemporary social or cultural change

      I look forward to sharing a time of fruitful and thoughtful discussion!