Trump Trump
Donald Trump is my President today.
He is not my leader.
Trump rose to power by dividing and conquering and by inciting and promoting anger and fear. He appealed to the worst in us, not the best.
He will remain in power by doing more of the same..and much worse.
Things are going to go wrong for Donald Trump, which means things are going to go wrong for the United States and the free world.
And when they go wrong, Donald Trump and his co-conspirators will look for someone to blame. They will blame blacks. They will blame gays. They will blame liberals. They will blame Muslims. They will blame the poor. They will blame the press. They will blame women. They will blame anyone who stirs up the most paranoia and rage in the public.
They will do more than blame. They will frame. They will slander and smear. They will whip up a mob of angry and frightened “insiders” and tell them the “outsiders” are conspiring against them.
They will aim their guns, their police, their missiles, their money, their press, their spies, and their soldiers at anyone who does not pledge allegiance to them.
Donald Trump and the people he is bringing with him into our government are not there to serve; they are there to commence a never-ending quest for greater and greater power by any means necessary.
And they will wage their war of aggression while professing the Christian God and wrapping themselves in the American flag.
I’ve never been so angry or scared in my life.
Most of what I feel, however, is anger. I want to fight. FIGHT.
Then I recognize three things:
First, anger and fear got us into this. It won’t get us out. If I give in to anger and fear, I join the destructive forces that threaten to annihilate us.
I cannot fight anger and fear by being angry and fearful myself.
Second, demagogues thrive when their opponents act out in anger. When I fly into a rage, people like Donald Trump can point at me and say with a smirk: “See? I told you so. He’s radical. Uncivilized. Violent.”
Lashing out gives the demagogue a weapon he can use against us.
Third, I am an apprentice and student of Jesus Christ. This is the Christ who taught his followers to “Bless those who persecute you” and “Love your enemies.”
This is the Christ who chose for his own mission statement Isaiah 61.1-2:
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus took a strong stand for and with the outsiders. Those who had few or no privileges. Those deemed immoral, undeserving, and unfit by the polite and pious. Understand this: Jesus didn’t tell the insiders to “go easy” on the outsiders; Jesus became an outsider himself. He left the exclusive privilege and safety of being an insider in order to count himself a reject among rejects.
Do you understand what this means?
Jesus is not to be found among the Christian majority and its position of power and privilege. He is to be found among the aliens and refugees, Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, and the welfare moms. Correction: he is not merely found among them. A correct understanding of the Gospel means Jesus is one of them.
Do you want to find Jesus in America? Don’t start by going to church. Try going to a gay bar instead.
Jesus took a public stand for and with those on whom the powerful and rich were standing. I can do no less. Especially now.
Those of us who believe in the American dream of “liberty and justice for all” and who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ must take a demonstrative stand. We must stand for and with the exploited, the oppressed, the poor, the persecuted, the pushed-aside, and pushed-out.
If unleashing our anger empowers the demagogue, then how do we stand?
We stand like Jesus Christ stood up to the corrupt political and religious powers of his day. He fed people, healed people, and loved people in the most tactile ways possible. He served. He taught gently and quietly.
And he was so effective that two things happened:
His resistance movement of love and service was so confusing, so surprising, and so unexplainable to the political and religious powers they had to kill Jesus. They knew how to handle armed uprisings and loud protests; they had no idea what to do when confronted with love, peace, and service.
The political and religious powers that tried to snuff out Jesus and his movement failed. The Way of Jesus Christ–characterized by loving service, mercy, and peace–literally devoured the political and religious systems that depended on exploration, manipulation, and violence.
We cannot beat Trumpism by acting like Trump; we win by imitating Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, I give you ‘The New Colossus,’ a poem by Emma Lazarus. You will recognize these words. They appear on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!“ cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
I’m struck by how similar are these words to the words of Isaiah 61.1-2.
‘The New Colossus,’ to me, describes what America aspires to be: A land of "liberty and justice for all.”
Isaiah 61.1-2, to me, describes what I am to be as a follower of Jesus Christ.
My allegiance to the United States of America is stronger today than it has ever been. My allegiance to Jesus Christ is even stronger than that. Those allegiances make the words of ‘The New Colossus’ and Isaiah 61.1-2 more than just a nice idea; they are ideals I am to promote and protect even at the cost of my own life.
Today, my country will inaugurate a man whose open disdain and disregard for those ideals make him a grave threat and mark him as an imposter.
Let our resistance begin today, but not with anger, shouting, and violence.
Let our resistance be our feeding, healing, listening, and touching.
Let our resistance be our grace, mercy, and peace.
Let our resistance be our blessings and prayers upon our enemies.
Let our resistance be love and service to foe and friend alike.
More than ever, God bless and keep you. And God bless and keep the United States of America.
Let’s go to work.