When Ash Wednesday rolled around last week my wife asked if I wanted to go to any of the church services in town. You see, after seventeen years in pastoral ministry I’d been spending the last two learning the trade of earthen building. Separated from the rhythms of traditional church life, and more particularly the life of a pastor, I said I’d like to do laundry instead. But that Wednesday moved fast and it was dark and late by the time we left the adobe house we’re building. We opted for enchiladas and a Modelo and dirty clothes. After finishing our meal we chatted with the restaurant owner as the plaza in our small town was being cordoned off after rumors of an active shooter and bomb threat were being addressed. Snow was falling for what felt like the first time all winter. 

“If it is not possible to disengage from the political affairs of our country, and I contend it is not because we make political decisions everyday, then what lies ahead for those who seek to embody the way of “doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God?” 

When I awoke on the morning following the election, and the results of it were confirmed, my spirit was spiked with a combination of grief and fear. The grief was for people I care about, the fear was for people I care about. However, it was not so much about a fear of what is to come for the marginalized, poor, and oppressed among us under a Trump presidency (although I fear that, too!). Instead, it was a grief and fear directed at the ways…”

"In that moment, I was reminded that, despite our differences, we have to coexist, working and raising our children in this shared space we call home. But what that moment also taught me, post-election, is that much of that 'unity' is false—a facade, a social display of organized harm, parading with joy over those it brutalizes... How can those who find entertainment in our culture continue to vote in ways that keep us oppressed, upholding their values as a measure of 'winning'—a false American dream?"

"We need accomplices, those who are tethered to us. If one suffers, all suffer, and if one is free, all are free. In the legendary and historic 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.' If we are truly serious about the work of justice, we will work daily to lay aside our political and religious differences for the sake of humanity and foster deep relationships that force us to be accomplices, not allies."