“Instead he prayed that he was on God’s side.” So should we all. In everything, but especially now when our Democracy depends on it. Thank you so much, Holly, for this wonderful post.
So good!! Perfect to read as I’m about to land in DC🥰 Lincoln, possibly the only one who could have pulled our country through that dark time! True hero!
Thank you Holly. I found you through Kristen Du Mez. You are not alone on this journey. There are many of us deeply distressed by Evangelicals and Christian Nationalism. Still Christian, but no longer claim the label evangelical. And I have so much anxiety about a possible T administration and the MAGA threat toward democracy. So concerned for my children and grandchildren and future great grandchildren. And I’m so tired of the hate and threat of violence. It is good to find others in the same thinking space.
Holly, this is fantastic. Balancing faith and humility is perhaps where American Christianity has gone farthest astray.
Humility isn't doubting God's wisdom and mercy--it is doubting my ability to discern it. And how people who completely miss the message of love and acceptance can be so damn sure of themselves is beyond me. I just never could find the coda to "Love thy neighbor" that added "unless they're gay, or an immigrant, or poor, or...".
We'd all be better of if, as you say, more people prayed to be on God's side, and fewer prayed for God to be on their side.
And, when I was stationed in DC 20 years ago, I used to take a bike from beautiful Alexandria to commune with Lincoln, too...often with my 5 year old son in tow and often at night, when the lighting, the echoes, and the magnificent words etched in stone could best speak to me.
Thank you for all you do! I reflect on it often, and question it sometimes, but I do believe we are on the right side.
I too started a blog back in 2009. It dealt with Catholicism and enlightened spirituality. By 2014 it had become a digest of both Catholic and Evangelical Christian Nationalism and for a number of reasons I decided to stop writing because I could see very plainly that leadership in both churches had no idea how to deal with it or divert it. I also suspected, neither group of leadership valued democracy because it stood in direct conflict with their own authority. We don't get to vote on authentic religious truth.
I keep going back to Genesis when God gives humanity a very simple choice, 'don't eat of this fruit'. Humanity flunked their first test and doubly flunked it by not understanding God's truth. Our evolution is defined by our choices....reasoned or not. Expanding choice is critical because none of us know where particular choices will lead. Human history is all about choices made by human characters and we all get to pay the price for the big choices. Americans are facing a big choice. Do we choose male dictatorship again, or a new path in which female energy decides how great power will be used. I choose the new path. I think Lincoln would as well.
Inspiring. Thank you.
If any one is ever in DC I can attest that making your way to the Lincoln Memorial in the quiet time is a must. It is simply profound.
Now that is truth. Profound truth.
Lincoln is a true hero. Thank you for expanding my view of him as a theologian as well. Perhaps one day
“Instead he prayed that he was on God’s side.” So should we all. In everything, but especially now when our Democracy depends on it. Thank you so much, Holly, for this wonderful post.
Outstanding
You are one of the good guys.
Not even a question.
The antidote to self-righteousness is humility, and we so often need to be reminded to take our medicine. Thanks for the reminder.
Amen Holly, Amen.
Beautiful Holly. Just beautiful.
Indeed
… he will be known as St. Abraham.
So good!! Perfect to read as I’m about to land in DC🥰 Lincoln, possibly the only one who could have pulled our country through that dark time! True hero!
Thank you Holly. I found you through Kristen Du Mez. You are not alone on this journey. There are many of us deeply distressed by Evangelicals and Christian Nationalism. Still Christian, but no longer claim the label evangelical. And I have so much anxiety about a possible T administration and the MAGA threat toward democracy. So concerned for my children and grandchildren and future great grandchildren. And I’m so tired of the hate and threat of violence. It is good to find others in the same thinking space.
Holly, this is fantastic. Balancing faith and humility is perhaps where American Christianity has gone farthest astray.
Humility isn't doubting God's wisdom and mercy--it is doubting my ability to discern it. And how people who completely miss the message of love and acceptance can be so damn sure of themselves is beyond me. I just never could find the coda to "Love thy neighbor" that added "unless they're gay, or an immigrant, or poor, or...".
We'd all be better of if, as you say, more people prayed to be on God's side, and fewer prayed for God to be on their side.
And, when I was stationed in DC 20 years ago, I used to take a bike from beautiful Alexandria to commune with Lincoln, too...often with my 5 year old son in tow and often at night, when the lighting, the echoes, and the magnificent words etched in stone could best speak to me.
Thank you for all you do! I reflect on it often, and question it sometimes, but I do believe we are on the right side.
I too started a blog back in 2009. It dealt with Catholicism and enlightened spirituality. By 2014 it had become a digest of both Catholic and Evangelical Christian Nationalism and for a number of reasons I decided to stop writing because I could see very plainly that leadership in both churches had no idea how to deal with it or divert it. I also suspected, neither group of leadership valued democracy because it stood in direct conflict with their own authority. We don't get to vote on authentic religious truth.
I keep going back to Genesis when God gives humanity a very simple choice, 'don't eat of this fruit'. Humanity flunked their first test and doubly flunked it by not understanding God's truth. Our evolution is defined by our choices....reasoned or not. Expanding choice is critical because none of us know where particular choices will lead. Human history is all about choices made by human characters and we all get to pay the price for the big choices. Americans are facing a big choice. Do we choose male dictatorship again, or a new path in which female energy decides how great power will be used. I choose the new path. I think Lincoln would as well.