What Matters...and What Doesn't
By Mike Glenn
This past Tuesday Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Since then, we've been bombarded by experts telling us what Trump's election means. There are experts on both sides of the issue -- some telling us this is the best thing that has ever happened to our nation, and other experts telling us this is the worst thing that has ever happened. They're probably both right and both wrong. Reality always seems to land somewhere between our best hopes and our worst fears.
Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash
So, what did I do on Wednesday after the election? I got up and led a small group I've been part of for the last four years. I went into the office and worked with several pastors I coach. I wrote several blogs and worked on a new book. I went home and had dinner with my wife. We talked and then, after an hour or so of reading, we went to bed. This past Wednesday was just like all the other Wednesdays of my life.
My guess is your Wednesday was pretty much like your other Wednesdays as well. Who was elected President didn't make a lot of difference in how I live my life. It probably didn't make a lot of difference in your day either.
My wife still needs me. That hasn't changed.
My sons, both are now fathers themselves, still need me to be their dad.
My grandchildren need me. Who else is going to buy them candy when their parents say "no?"
There are homeless people in my community who need to be cared for. There are hungry families in Tennessee who need to be fed. There are broken and wounded people who need a friend and as always, there are friends who need to hear the gospel. There are children who could use a tutor. There are young couples trying to figure out what their marriage should look like and young parents who are totally overwhelmed with the responsibility of being new parents. There are senior adults nearby who could use a phone call or a visit. There are people in jails and prisons who need our compassion. There are parents of special needs children who need our support.
Everything Jesus mentioned in Matthew 25 on being of eternal significance is still present in our world. People are hungry, thirsty, sick, and broken hearted, and they need our ministry and concern. These issues are so important that Jesus tells His followers that on the day we stand before Him, these are questions He will ask us.
For Jesus, this is what mattered in His earthly ministry. He tells us this is what will matter in eternity. That means this is what matters now.
Everything else -- including who was elected president? Not so much.
I understand your point and there is truth in it--as children of God and followers of Jesus, our truest reality is living in God's story as agents of redemption in a fallen and not-yet fully restored earth. Always the answer is to love God and love others.
But you are wrong, too. Wednesday I woke up as a woman who has been sexually abused and learned an adjudicated rapist and man who brags about his predation was elected president--by the vast majority of Christians (at least white, catholic, and Latino). How many other sexual abuse survivors woke up with horror...at least 25%.
I talked to a friend who was sent home from her Texas hospital with an ectopic pregnancy to either miscarry or have a medical emergency. How many women woke up to that kind fear?
I talked to a friend who works at a non-profit for immigrants and refugees. Two of their employees are in Temporary Protected Status. They had to make plans for if they are deported, if the refugee agency they partner with has to shut down and how to absorb them and cover funding.
I sent my kids to a Christian school and my 7th grade son came back wilted and weepy because his Catholic and evangelical classmates' parents all voted for a criminal and a misogynist and he was alone. A friend drove up in pick-up line and confessed her sadness and bewilderment and then said, I don't know who to talk to. I think maybe everyone voted for him."
My daughter cried. She has read the Wallstreet Journal every Saturday and the New York Times every Sunday for the entire election year to try to understand both sides--and she understood we just voted in a man who has run a campaign on fear and hatred. We wondered together about our neighbors--the families who woke up and wondered if they would be split from their children if they were deported. The kids who wonder if they will be separated from their parents or illegally deported as American citizens.
Loving our neighbor means grieving with them. That, if nothing else, should change our Wednesday.
I was devastated on Wednesday by the election results. I am still processing what this will mean but in the immediate aftermath I’m hurting to the core. I am unable to defend to my non evangelical friends why my evangelical friends voted for this rapist and felon. I’m watching and listening to the evangelicals in my community defend their vote with such excuses as the lesser of 2 evils, Trump is more prolife, I have even heard him compared to King David flawed but a man after God’s own heart. So for now I don’t know where my community is or how to move on.