As a deeply concerned nation keeps its prayerful vigil with the family of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother, the frantic and forensic search for her presses on, now in its ninth day and at an “hour of desperation.” Savannah and her sister Annie and brother Camron, read on television an appeal for their mother’s safe return. I am grateful for such an explicit witness of faith. In particular, I so appreciated something that Annie Guthrie wrote about her mother:
The light is missing from our lives. Nancy is our mother. We are her children. She is our beacon. She holds fast to joy in all of life’s circumstances. She chooses joy day after day, despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief.
I mentioned in a previous blog post the roadside message board of the ASAP automobile repair shop just outside the gates of our condominium. The most recent message on the board reads:
Today, I choose joy.
Not easily done. We are all challenged to ‘hold fast’ to joy in all of life’s circumstances and to choose joy day after day, despite the trials of life’s nightmarish hardships and failures. I cannot remember a period in my life during which I have been so vulnerable to the daily assault on my sense of hope and the experience of joy amid the cynicism.
I was reading some comments that Father Richard Rohr made recently. One was particularly appropriate:
Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.
How true! Within our current societal context, I have felt that misery often as the torrent of lies from this administration seeks to convince us that the truth is not as we see it, or what is redacted in the Epstein Files is necessary and lawful and that somehow their twisted and violent treatment of our neighbors and communities is justified, even Christian. The realities of life under Trump’s authoritarian and unconstitutional rule leave me in my own ‘hour of desperation,’ feeling miserable about this country’s moral failures and disgusted by Christian complicity with his cruel and inhumane behavior and rhetoric.
The New York Times (February 8, 2026) published an ‘Opinion’ by David French under the title: A Movie About America Broke My Heart. (No, it is not Melania!)The movie is called: The Testament of Ann Lee, “the founder of the American Shakers, a tiny utopian Christian sect that started in England in the mid-18th century. Lee brought a small band of followers to the United States shortly before the Revolution. The Shakers were known for their ecstatic worship (hence the name), their egalitarianism and pacifism, their absolute commitment to celibacy, and their furniture. Shakers committed themselves to excellence in all things, and their craftsmanship was impeccable.” (French) However, Ann Lee and her community quickly became the victims of some of America’s profound flaws, such as witnessing slave auctions, being imprisoned for their pacifism, and their firsthand experience of local mob violence. Of his visceral reaction to the movie, French poignantly writes:
Hours after the movie, I finally realized why I had tears in my eyes. In the final scene, you see Lee’s plain wooden casket sitting alone under a painting of a beautiful tree.
In that moment, you could clearly see the gap between American hope and American reality. And I was reminded once again of one of George Washington’s favorite Bible verses, Micah 4:4 — “Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.” In his writings, Washington referred to it almost 50 times.
The verse is so prominent in Washington’s life that Lin-Manuel Miranda used it as part of the theme of his song, “One Last Time,” in which Washington quotes that verse and declares that he wants everyone to be “safe in the nation we’ve made.”
Washington referred to that verse most famously when writing to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I. Assuring them of their liberty in this new nation, he wrote, “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
What a beautiful expression of American pluralism and religious tolerance. Our nation is not a place — it never will be a place — where we all agree with one another, much less look like one another, or even come from a common culture. But we can live together as neighbors so long as we recognize one another’s inherent dignity and worth.
We are living in an America where only the powerful and wealthy and sycophants for DJT can sit in safety under their own vines and fig trees and not be afraid.
February 5, 2026 was a really awful day. It began with the President’s speech to the Seventy-fourth National Prayer Breakfast. There has been a flood of commentary in media markets about his disgusting performance and message. It should have born the title: A Message about America that Will Surely Break Your Heart. Peter Wehner, a columnist for The Atlantic, contributed his comments in an article titled: The Evangelicals Who See Trump’s Viciousness as Virtue. (February 6, 2026) He writes:
The National Prayer Breakfast was founded in 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower accepted an invitation to join members of Congress to break bread together. Every president since has participated, regardless of party or religious persuasion. It offers an opportunity, according to its organizers, for political leaders to gather and pray collectively for our nation “in the spirit of love and reconciliation as Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago.”
Donald Trump never got that memo—or, if he did, he’s found ways to ignore it. In a rambling, 75-minute speech at the Prayer Breakfast yesterday, we saw the quintessential Trump. His comments were grievance-filled, narcissistic, conspiratorial, factually false, divisive, and insulting. …
The spirit of love and reconciliation that Jesus of Nazareth taught 2000 years ago was not that particularly evident in the words of the president. Of course, it never has been. No matter. The audience of some 3500--the great majority of whom undoubtedly claim to be followers of Jesus –responded to Trump’s remarks with a standing ovation…
They thrill to watch Trump savage his critics and their devotion grows with every dehumanizing word, with every merciless act.
Later that night, the racist Trump descended to a new low by tweeting on his Truth Social a video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes. As I say, February 5, 2026, was really an awful day, one on which it was difficult to choose joy.
The question now comes again in our time, especially within the toxic MAGA hatred and division that exists in our beloved land. As Christians, how can we live “in the spirit of love and reconciliation as Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago?” How can we rediscover the will to assert the central truths and ethical demands of our Christian faith, to live kindly and with compassion, to love justice and walk humbly with God while we welcome the stranger and serve our neighbors? How can we pray with conviction and unwavering commitment a modern version of Washington’s prayer? “May the Children of the Stock of all Nations, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety of their own homes, schools and houses of worship and on their own neighborhood streets, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
There is a small Lutheran Church on Wymore Road in Altamonte Springs, the community in which we winter. Like so many other churches here in Florida, it has a roadside message board in front of it, just like the ASAP Repair Shop. The most recently posted piece of encouragement was:
There is joy in a life led by Jesus.
That is the key! To live a life led by Jesus. We have His words; we need to read them with a renewed sense of dedication. We have His lessons; we need to study them and follow them, with a renewed appreciation of their relevance and effectiveness. He once told his followers: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The question now comes again today with a profound sense of urgency: Will we follow Him on His way, learn and believe in His truth so that we may know and share His light and life with all God’s children, no matter how young or old, whatever color or gender, nationality or legal status? And the promise that sustains us is this: there is joy in a life led by Jesus.
Let me close with a second quote by Richard Rohr:
There will be days marked by tears and others by laughter that echoes down the path. Days of uncertainty will give way to moments of clarity and grace. Just like life, our pilgrimage holds it all—the highs and the lows, the mess and the miracles. And yet, by the end of each day, joy remains.
Joy in the stories we’ve shared.
Joy in the faces now familiar.
Joy in the sacred rhythm of each step.
― Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life