The Monster Tamer

        According to the schedule I set for myself, today I was supposed to write something about “Plan for the Future,” but with the events of this momentous week still fresh in my mind, I have decided to write about the election.

        It should come as no surprise that we are just as divided after Tuesday’s results as we were on Monday. We have the promise of a smooth transition this time because Kamala Harris did the grown-up thing and conceded that she lost, but the divisions in our country are nevertheless stark and real.

        So are the fears. A lot of vulnerable people in this country besides undocumented immigrants are afraid of what a second Trump presidency may mean. What will his election mean for journalists who run afoul of his administration? Or disabled people dependent on Social Security for their income? Or women who want to make their own reproductive choices? Or naturalized citizens who could easily get caught up in his promised mass deportations? Maybe nothing. Maybe these fears have no basis in reality. But who is to say? Donald Trump has said a lot of threatening things about a lot of different people and groups over the years. Who knows but that he may have meant some of them? And now he is in office again and has a Congress and a judiciary firmly in his camp. In other words, he has no guardrails. That is a frightening prospect for many.

        To those who voted for Mr. Trump, I say congratulations, and I hope and pray you are right in your expectations of a better America under his administration. But I have to qualify that hope by saying that a better America cannot be for only some of the people. It needs to be a better America for all, or else it’s not better. It’s worse.

        To those who voted for Vice President Harris, I say do not despair. We have a hope that is not founded on the Constitution of the United States or any one political party. Our hope rests in Jesus Christ. We have his promise that he will never leave us or forsake us, that he will be with us always, to the very end of the age. We have the promise that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is there with them. We have the promise that if we follow him to the cross, there is an empty tomb on the other side.

        Don’t be fooled: walking with Jesus is no cake walk. He suffered, and if we follow him faithfully, we face the real possibility of suffering too. Especially if we do the things he did—standing with the marginalized, speaking up for the oppressed and persecuted, defying the powers that be when they use their power to demean and dehumanize their opponents. We need to be ready to resist hate in all its forms, to meet angry rhetoric with words of kindness and respect, to face down violence with nonviolent resistance.

        We have no way of knowing what is in store in the next four years. We are truly in uncharted waters. But we know that God has gone before us, even into those parts of our maps labeled, “Here be monsters.” Let us remember always that the monsters we fight are not monsters of flesh and blood, but rather powers and principalities that want to keep us in bondage. Let us remember that our fellow citizens are not monsters, regardless of which side of the political fence they inhabit. Most of all, let us remember that God has the capacity to tame all monsters. Let us put our trust in the monster-taming God and live lives of faithfulness and courage in these days of uncertainty.