THE VARIOUS STATES OF AMERICA

The American project has reached a crossroads and it feels there is very little United in our current moment. We hold different convictions on our origin as a country and divergent hopes on our future. A country once considered by many as a shining exemplar is now a tumultuous teen serving as a cautionary tale. It may be the necessary journey of every nation, in the same way it is the required journey of every human, that there is an ascent and a there is a descent. In the descent character is formed and found, or, the shallow roots are revealed and there is a land slide of loss. What the descent of our American days uncovers is still to be determined. It seems if we are united on anything, it is the agreement that we are living in the hinge of American history. 

In this in-between moment of America those of us who claim to follow the way of Jesus have a distinct opportunity to learn from centuries of Christians who lived and led at similar unsettling times in history. The precipice we are walking along is unique to our time, but not to our Christian tradition. The words and wisdom of Jesus, and the vast majority of the New Testament, was against a backdrop of cultural, ethnic, and political turmoil. We need to revisit our sacred texts to look and listen for the invitation to align our loyalty to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom that is united. United across all the difference we hold of culture and convictions. 

What if in the great wisdom and expanse of God our different convictions and divergent hopes for our country are all necessary: protestor and investor, loyalist and liberator, progressive and conservative. Can we hold with humility there is no singular solution to the complexity of our time? What conversation could emerge if we considered the American project has been both the place of liberty and slavery, opportunity and oppression? The truth is we live in the Various States of America.  

The year that is 2020 will not pass quietly into the history of our country. We have the unique opportunity to learn and lead in this historic time. May we do so knowing “the weight of our responsibility and the levity of Your grace”.

Jared Ray Mackey
July 30, 2020