President-Elect Trump,
Congratulations on wining this year’s presidential election. As Christians around the country prepare to celebrate Christmas, you are also building your inner circle of advisors who will set policy for our nation in the coming year.
As your brother in Christ and fellow Christian, I would like to share with you a Christmas wish list for you as you prepare to lead our great nation.
- A wish for you: Christian community. Please find and attend church while in office. Listen to the sermon and open the Bible to the passage they preach from. Underline, take notes and memorize scripture. Allow God’s word to affect your thoughts and actions. Let it soften your response. Let it give you a deep peace in the knowledge that you are but a small piece in God’s grand design.
- Remember the manger: A wish for humility. Christians are called to be humble and act with respect toward all people. The office of the President means putting aside personal interests for four years and putting the country first in all things, all the time.
- A wish for restraint: Tweeting makes you look small. Cyber-bullying those you disagree with makes you look small, impulsive and reactive — not presidential. Even as people hurl insults at you, you cannot afford to retaliate to one person because you now represent all 330 million Americans. The presidency and thereby our nation is cheapened when you lash out at a theater company, or a reporter, or any of the many individuals with whom you have taken issue.
- A wish for more-than-three wise men: Many different perspectives from a variety of men and women will help balance your leadership. With a few exceptions, you have hired mostly older white men who think like you do to serve in your inner circle. Your cabinet should reflect the full diversity of America. Remember, Jesus embraced diversity, in his inner circle and throughout his ministry by reaching across cultural boundaries to help and to heal.
- Remember the shepherds: A wish for the “least of these.” In the Gospels, Jesus is seen telling a rich ruler or rich man to give away all his possessions to the poor. Yet you are forming a cabinet that will be the richest group of men, including several billionaires, ever in the history of our nation. You may never have had to worry about where your next meal is coming from, but please remember that there are poor people all over this country and around the world who do have to worry about basics like food insecurity, adequate education, clean water, etc. And we hope that caring for their needs will be a priority in your new administration. This includes valuing public education, funding social programs that are working and keeping families stable and providing health care to those most vulnerable.
- A wish for religious freedom. This country was founded on the idea that we should be free from religious control and free to worship as we feel led. This means that your job is now to protect not only the majority religion, but also the minority ones. We expect you to protect every person’s right to worship, to pray, to dress and to act as his or her religion requires, free from government’s control. The constitution grants these as rights of every person under our laws. Do not let your cabinet undermine these core principles.
- A wish for wisdom. Christians value wisdom and learning. Early in your campaign you said that on day one you would be the most prepared president to take office. So, start reading and learning and stop being distracted by everything else. This is what many of us who didn’t vote for you are worried about, that you don’t seem to grasp the magnitude of the job. It is foolishness not to read the daily intelligence briefings being offered to you. And when the CIA suggests Russian hacking, you simply can’t dismiss this as Democrat wound-licking. These actions are a threat to our democracy and this should have a central place on your agenda as Commander and Chief. Even your fellow congressional Republicans understand this.
Mr. Trump, as a Christian, I will be praying for you. Many others will as well because you are preparing to accept a very heavy mantle of leadership. Honor our nation by being a humble, patient, wise and counsel-seeking leader.
Sincerely,
The Rev. David Burroughs
