Some moments of our lives are “fork-in-the-road” moments. Others are moments when we realize that somewhere along the road, there was a fork and we took the wrong path.
The divergence was so gradual that we don’t realize until its too late and find ourselves frantically retracing our steps, trying to figure out where we went wrong.
This week is perhaps one of those moments in our journey as a nation and as a church.
Unprecedented Times
After all the talk of “unprecedented times” last year, I’m loathe to use the term out of principle. But the truth is we are living in unprecedented times.
On January 6, 2021, for the first time since the Civil War, the transfer of the American presidency lost its “peaceful” status.
Real casualties were suffered in what was essentially a coup attempt.
Our individual lives may not have been disrupted immediately. (In fact, I didn’t learn of the riots and the storming of Capitol Hill until well into the evening.) But it was a historic turning point for America.
It was our “where did we go wrong” moment.
“If You Can Keep It”
Our nation is governed as a republic, where the law stands above everyone, including our leaders and officials.
The American experiment in the 1780s introduced a novel concept to the world of “the King is the Law”. Our founders insisted that the Law was King.
Since George Washington, just about everyone transfer of power between Presidents has been peaceful. In 1861, the country split completely over its divisions and the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln was the immediate catalyst. Besides that though, I’m not aware of anything like what happened this week.
Benjamin Franklin was once asked what kind of government the new Americans had set up. His reply was accompanied with a charge of immense responsibility: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
On a purely political level, the American republic relies on the responsibility of Americans to preserve liberty and justice for all.
On another level, the riots at the Capitol reveal something alarming about the American church.
The Battle is the Lord’s?
Not only has America as a nation reached its “where did we go wrong” moment, but so has the American church.
Among those who breached the House floor on Wednesday were a Trump supporter carrying a Christian flag and followers of QAnon, the internet conspiracy movement.
Conservative Christianity’s love affair with Donald Trump has finally culminated in the first violent interference in the transfer of Presidential power in American history.
Now, of course, we can’t assume that every person who marched into the Capitol was a true believer. But we dare not ignore that Christian flags rose alongside Trump flags and Confederate battle flags in the protest/riot.
We may have been aware of some “extreme” devotion to Donald Trump within the church. But were we really prepared to watch this play out? Did we take it for granted?
I drove past a country house today that proudly flew a flag emblazoned with the declaration “Jesus is my Savior. Trump is my President.” Can we really pretend that the Trump-worship in the conservative Christian church didn’t play a part in bringing us to where we are now?
It seems that we have lost sight of the Gospel of grace and the Gospel of power. Instead we’ve opted for our own strivings and our own power. We trust in a mere human (or a mere political party) to “save” us.
As Christians drift to things like QAnon and fanatical support of Donald Trump, we have to ask: did we see this coming the whole time? Did we simply ignore it as a “minority” of Christian America? Did we chuckle and shake our heads patronizingly without taking it seriously?
For the first time in our 243 years of history, the people have marched into the Capitol, made trouble, threatened Congressional proceedings, and destroyed lives and property. And it was Christians and conservatives who did this.
Where did we go wrong?
Keep Yourselves
Proverbs 4:23 exhorts us, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Let us all take this exhortation to heart now especially. It is so easy to point and talk about the “other side” but dear conservative Christian, it was not the “other side” that wreaked the havoc of January 6, 2021.
To play off the words of Robert Frost:
“Two roads diverged in a snowy wood…but I wasn’t aware until it was too late.”
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press / Jose Luis Magana.