@POTUS Matters, but Does Jesus?

By Tripp Hudgins, Privileged White Guy

I recently wrote a thin little post about American democracy (a Republic, by the by) and asked a simple question: Does the office of the President of the United States work any longer? I’m not certain what the answer is, but as our nation continues to divide itself over who is elected to serve in that capacity, I wonder…

The post is quasi-historical and mostly political in nature. I did not mention religion once. Not at all. This morning I needed to ask myself why.

Intersectionality is a pain in the arse. It reveals to all of us the competing loyalties we all work with. Am I first a Christian? A white man? A long-time left-of-center Democrat? A Virginian? A Berkeleyite?

All of the above and then some.

My religious tradition insists that my first loyalty is to Jesus the Christ, who is the very Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. He is the first fruit, the first to see resurrection, and the author of my salvation. Much more has been said over the centuries. But let this stand as it is. I am first a Christian. Then I am all the other things. Well, that is what my faith tradition says. It’s not so easy to live it.

Because I am a lot of things, apparently.

Here I am blaring away about digital technology and social media specifically. I am not concerned about the realities as much as I am concerned that others in our nation do not see the fallout for what it is. What has plagued bowling alleys and churches alike is now hitting the institutions of government full on. It’s like a tsunami of individual empowerment and community echo chambers crashed down upon our collective heads all at once and we simply do not know how to do this “America thing” any more.

No Executive Order or Bill in Congress is going to fix it. There’s nothing to fix. The problem is geographical. The geography that once made America what it was no longer exists. We have to shift as a nation, pivot on one civic foot, and take a different track. It’s going to be messy…very messy. And we are nowhere near done with the process.

There will be demonstrations from the left and the right. People will be express their frustrations in any number of ways. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. All the while, no one is going to fix the failing public schools in Bedford County, Virginia or clean the deadly waters of Flint, Michigan.

So, where is Jesus in this? Where is God?

Well, with the marginalized and outcast, of course.

No, not those who perceive themselves to be marginalized while they still reap the rewards of centuries of economic and social privilege (See: Donald Trump, Breitbart, Silicon Valley industrialists, me, etc.), but the actual marginalized. Jesus is with those who are at every turn being disempowered. It’s where you can always find God.

Jesus is in Bedford County and in Flint. Jesus marched wearing a pink hat in Alaska and Washington, D.C. Jesus marched in a pro-life rally. Jesus is shouting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” Jesus is with the police officer’s widower. Jesus is in the pulpits of Spanish-speaking Pentecostal congregations of the central valley of California. He is in the state houses and the jail houses. Jesus is suffering alongside all who suffer. Jesus is calling to each one of us who profits from such a time to repent.

Jesus doesn’t check for your citizenship papers.

Jesus doesn’t look for your voter registration card.

Jesus doesn’t even look at your tax returns.

Jesus looks into your heart, deep within the dark well of your heart, to see if there’s enough of a spark there yet to kindle a flame; a flame of Divine Love. You see, this is precisely what the day of the LORD looks like. This is the beginning of the end of the beginning again. This is what social upheaval looks like. And those of us who profess to follow the Prince of Peace need to wake the hell up.

We need to confess the complexities of our competing loyalties. We need to confess our bigotry and prejudices. We need to confess our fears. We need to seek healing and offer mercy and justice. We need to meet the rising tide of God’s grace because it is rising right along with that tsunami I mentioned earlier.

Where there is trouble, there is always a double shot of God’s grace.

But that doesn’t mean we aren’t tossed around. It doesn’t immediately make us right and just. It doesn’t make us less culpable for the evil done in this world. It isn’t a get out of jail free card.

Jesus is not going to fix this for us. But Jesus gives us the perspective to see whose lives are actually at risk in all of this. He helps us look for those who are stuck gleaning the fields after they have been harvested. He calls out those who build bigger silos. He calls our attention to systems, even religious systems, that oppress and demoralize, and then asks…

What are you going to do about it?