In my last blog post, also dated January 27, 2025, I quoted from a TED talk about the post-truth era in which we are living. The title of the talk by Yuval Noah Harari was “Are we living in a post-truth era? Yes, but that’s because we’re a post-truth species,” and the quote read:
Truth and power can travel together only so far. Sooner or later, they go their separate paths. If you want power, at some point you will have to spread fictions. If you want to know the truth about the world, at some point you will have to renounce power.
At the time, I confessed to still pondering the weight and wisdom of that claim, and I invited you to ponder with me. I hope that you did and continue to do so.
Less than a week ago, although it seems much longer, the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde preached the sermon at the Inaugural Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. It was really a sermon about national unity within the context of our ‘culture of contempt’ and what is being called our ‘outrage industrial complex.’ Insightfully, she refers to the foundations of unity, and the most interesting aspect of this reference for me was her clear and courageous acknowledgment of ‘sacred traditions and texts’ as the sources of these foundational truths. Her biblical truth had surely separated from the intimidation of political power at that moment. She asked:
What are the foundations of unity? Drawing from our sacred traditions and texts, let me suggest that there are at least three.
The first foundation for unity is honoring the inherent dignity of every human being, which is, as all faiths represented here affirm, the birthright of all people as children of the One God.
A second foundation for unity is honesty in both private conversation and public discourse. If we aren’t willing to be honest, there is no use in praying for unity, because our actions work against the prayers themselves.
A third foundation for unity is humility…
Bishop Budde then went on to speak directly to a seething President, having quite the moment for herself and her Lord’s Gospel!
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land.” (Deuteronomy 10: 17-21)
As we all know, her plea to the President went viral and later that night, President Trump posted on his social media platform, reverting to old divisive, insulting and unkind behavior, called her a "Radical Left hard line Trump hater" who "brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way." He also called her “nasty” and demanded an apology. One of his sycophants even suggested independently that she should be the first person deported. Not surprisingly, given the toxicity of our time, she has also received death threats, this for preaching the Gospel.
Can you imagine that? Calling for an apology for preaching the uncomfortable and inconvenient Gospel truth to those who possess power!
The Sunday New York Times printed an article by David French yesterday. It is titled: How a German Thinker Explains MAGA Morality, (Jan. 26, 2025) His lead quote and personal comment were quite provocative:
“When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like sins.”
Benjamin Cremer, a Wesleyan pastor and writer who is based in Idaho, posted that thought last year. I saw it last week and immediately forwarded it to some of my close friends with a note that said that this sentence captures our political moment. It helps describe America’s moral divide.
Well said. “When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like ‘nasty’ sins.”
Yale Divinity School sent me an email the other day, inviting YDS alums to join the campus community for this year's Hoskins Visitorship. Reverend Dr. Fred Hoskins oversaw the process creating the United Church of Christ and served as its co-president with James Wagner from 1957 to 1961. He died of a heart attack while attending a staff meeting at his Garden City Church, New York. The Hoskins Visitorship was established at Yale Divinity School in 1967 in memory of Hoskins. This year’s visitor is the Reverend Dr. Scott Black Johnston ’89 M.Div., Senior Pastor of New York’s Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, and he will be at the Divinity School February 4–5. His series of conversations are titled “Fight Like Jesus: Conflict and the Work of Faith” and are both timely and intriguing. At times like this, I wish that I were in Connecticut. I need to be better equipped to “fight like Jesus.”
Ray Waddle, author, columnist and editor of the Yale Divinity School’s Alumni Magazine, Reflection, authored an introductory article for the event titled: Casting a moral vision in a precarious time and inimitable place: Scott Black Johnston, Waddle effectively writes about the controversial Johnston, his ministry and message.
First, in 2017, Johnston was a prayer participant for Trump’s first inaugural, something that whipped up a gust of criticism. His response to the criticism was thought provoking:
Christians have a responsibility to make all presidents aware of gospel imperatives, care for the vulnerable, love of neighbor, the work of reconciliation.
Indeed, we do.
Second, in response to questions about the contemporary church in this precarious time and inimitable place, Johnston writes:
To retain or regain vitality, though, mainline churches will need to move beyond habits of merely criticizing currently dominant expressions of cultural Christianity or Christian nationalism. It’s time to speak up positively about what a more authentic Christian faith and practice should look like.
There is so much going on in the world that is inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, that preachers have spent a good bit of pulpit time in recent years offering prophetic criticism. This needed to happen, but too often we have stopped after offering a critique and have failed to extend a positive and constructive vision for our people.
What a challenge he lays before us! Surely, we must continue with our prophetic calling, to confront the ‘currently dominant expressions of cultural Christianity and white Christian nationalism’ and everything else in our nation’s corruption and/or betrayal of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, I do not agree with Johnson in his conclusion that we have failed to speak positively about what a more authentic Christian faith and practice should look like or extended a positive and constructive vision for our people. I think that this happens every week across the country, when preachers speak of the sacred traditions and texts which inform us of the prophetic and pastoral truths that sustain us and make us all, not just Presidents, aware of the gospel imperatives, care for the vulnerable, love of neighbor and the work of reconciliation. The challenge in this precarious time and inimitable place, a time and place where too many worship power rather than truth, is not simply to make the power of our Gospel truth known but to do so in a more compelling voice.
When I was a pastor at the First Congregational Church of Coventry, I made a habit of marking my bible with the favorite passages of beloved members of the church. Prall Merriam was one such member and her favorite was Philippians 4: 8-9:
8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9; NRSV)
These are the things that make for a more authentic Christian faith and practice, and they are more compelling when we keep on doing them.