Give Me Your Tired

Wesley Bros

by

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” -Emma Lazarus

“Come to me,all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

Just a heads up. I’m picking sides this week. I know  I’m known for building bridges and trying to maintain a catholic spirit. But the reality is, I’m glad Biden won. If you’re afraid that will trigger you, you may not want to keep reading.

While I am sure there are some President Trump supporters among my viewership, the truth is, most of my audience is celebrating the Biden/Harris victory of this past weekend. We have lived four years under a president who has been intentionally divisive and unconcerned with facts or truth. Whatever it is you like about what Trump has done for our country, I would have preferred it to have been accomplished under a Republican with integrity and a heart for unity.  Please do not think that just because I voted for Biden that I am an enemy of the Republican party.  Both parties have their sins, and both parties have something to offer this society.  As an LGBTQ+ person, I am against a president who has actively tried to expand discrimination upon my people.  As a friend and advocate for minorities, I am against a president who fosters relationships with extremists and refuses to acknowledge racial injustice.  As someone who loves my grandmother, I am appalled by a president who treated the pandemic so carelessly.  As an American citizen, I am done with a president who makes everything about himself.  As a Christian, I am fed up with leaders who seek to promote their agendas through increasing division.

All that is to say that I think Republicans can lead much better than President Trump has.

That is also to say that I do not believe Biden can or will magically fix our country.  He is a man, and men fail.  I do believe that Biden’s win is a step forward in the right direction for the healing of our country.  But if life was a game of "Mother May I," it’s just taking one teeny-weeny baby step forward. Because Biden is a Democrat. Biden will not magically make friends with the 49% of the country that voted for Donald Trump. There is no magic wand to wave and take away the pandemic or its effects. We cannot bring back 238,000 people in the U.S. who have died from COVID. We cannot magically make black lives matter to all people. We cannot make the abusers confess their sins and repent. And it’s hard to imagine any healing taking place without confession and repentance.

I am genuinely happy because there is a new incoming president.  But my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…and therefore my hope for a better world cannot rest in who holds the highest office in my country.  I can breathe a little easier, and I genuinely feel some anxiety lift from my shoulders.  But there is so, so much work to be done, and so much of that work has to happen on the local level, with face to face interaction.  The way it always has.  Do no harm.  Do good.  Attend to all the ordinances of God.  It just may be a little bit easier to do that work now.

Creator of the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves at Highland United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.