I teach social welfare policy and because of that, I have to keep up with all of the politics in our country. I have taught this subject for over 20 years and have never seen more strife, anger and hurt than in the last year. The current Administration, whether intentionally or not, has given rise to great divides and rifts between the people of this country.
I am not going to go “all political” and have a rant. I just don’t do that. What I want to address is the failure of people in all of this. I was on a panel in a town hall meeting at my college. At that meeting, I expressed the notion that if we do not like the way our country is right now, it is our fault. Most especially, I hold all of us a followers of Christ most responsible
Why would I say this? It is simple, when did we as a Church decide to buy into free enterprise and capitalist values? We no longer think we are our brother’s (or sister’s) keeper. We do not show any concern for “the least of his children”. Instead we abdicate our role in all of this by letting government take care of it so that we don’t have to see it or address it. In the model prayer, “give us this day our daily bread” should be followed by” and remind me of those who have no bread”.
The evil, hateful and hurtful things going on in our country these days can do one of two things. It can basically make a shambles of our democracy and our constitution. It can create riots, violence, and great hurt. Or, we can seize this moment in time. We can each decide as Christian and collectively as the Church to use these times as the turning point. The point at which we go back to the values we claim to believe. This moment in time when we take care of each other, forces government to listen to us, and most of all we care for the least of his children again.
TMM