If you are like me, the pastor of a small church in a small town, you might be thinking to yourself, “Now what?” I mean, we have a big year ahead. If your church still does vacation Bible school, it’s past time to start planning! We still need to prepare for our Wednesday night gatherings and of course, Sunday is always coming.
As I write this, I have just sent an email about booking a guest speaker for my church this fall. I’ve been trying to discern what our main theme should be and for some reason (or obvious reasons) Christian nationalism seems right.
Alden Gallimore
My hope is that 20 to 30 of my church members, who are 99% white and 70% retired, will learn more about Baptist principles, including religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
These days, it seems people choose their religion based on their political views (Bill Leonard). We are too moderate sometimes — trying not to make anyone uncomfortable by stirring any pot other than our Brunswick stew cauldron.
But I can’t help but wonder, is any of this actually making a difference? Or can the church have anything left to say when it is largely the church’s fault we are in this mess? As the great Dietrich Bonhoeffer once asked, “Are we still of any use?”
I am reminded of the prophet Isaiah who wrote (10:1-2): “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.”
Or better yet, the prophet Amos who wrote (2:6): “I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.”
In case you haven’t noticed, everyone seems to be silent right now. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the protests in the streets? Have the moderates gone silent yet again? It boggles my mind how the so-called “pro-life” party is happy to let children go hungry in school. Although it seems the administration quickly rescinded that order.
“It’s easy for some people to just turn off the news and look away — which is the definition of privilege.”
The people who swear they aren’t racist allowed executive order 11246, signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, which “prohibits discrimination in employment by federal contractors based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and requires affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in hiring,” to be revoked.
As if that wasn’t enough, a separate executive order has “paused special event programs and related events, including for Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Holocaust Day of Remembrance and Pride Month.”
It’s easy for some people to just turn off the news and look away — which is the definition of privilege. People of privilege aren’t at risk of losing everything.
Yet I still ask, “When will it be enough? Where will you draw the line?” As my grandfather would say, “Those who can’t hear can feel.” I guess as long as the stock market is good and their wallets are secure, there’s nothing to worry about. You were warned, I can promise that. I guess I was too “woke” to be heard.
Meanwhile, these words written by Anne Frank in 1943 fall on deaf ears: “Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
So far, the only answer I have found to all these questions including the first (now what?) is simple: Shit, I don’t know. But we get up every morning and try. Every day is a new day, and all we can do at this point is to be a walking “safe space” for the people in our community (David Pace).
But if you find yourself identifying with me, just know you aren’t alone. None of us are. We are all confused, wondering if there’s any hope left.
“Keep preaching the gospel.”
While I am right there with you, I also can offer you a solution. It’s in your pulpit this Sunday. And next Sunday. And the next. We never have lived in a time like this. It’s OK not to know what to do. Just know you are not alone. And keep preaching truth to power. Keep preaching the gospel.
Lord knows we are still human. Those we disagree with have failed to see other people the way God sees them. And when you feel imposter syndrome creep in, be reminded of something else Amos wrote (7:14-15): “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people.’”
Go prophesy to God’s people. Better yet, during times like these, some of us need to be reminded how God provided deliverance to Moses while the people were fleeing from the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:15-16): “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.”
The Lord provides a path to follow even when we become cornered. May we all have the courage to lead our flocks forward, even as the empire pursues.
Alden Gallimore is originally from Powder Springs, Ga. He is now the pastor of a small church in a small Virginia town.
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