On (Not) Avoiding the Crisis

Christ is risen, and we have a few crises

by

Perspectives

Grinding the Beans | April 11, 2026

Good morning friends. Grace and peace to you! Christ is risen!

And at the same time, we find ourselves in a few crises. In reading an excellent New Yorker article this week about James Talrico, the seminary student who is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, the writer along the way expressed it with clarity.

  • There is conflict. We can engage by adding to the conflict.
  • There is conflict. We can avoid it, staying quiet.
  • There is conflict. We can engage it by seeking healing.

We find ourselves in few crises, and the conflict is in how and why we engage.

I could advocate non-violence or inclusion or compassion or justice by using violent speech. Here I am projecting my inner violence (shadow, sin, power) on others.

This is why inner work is so important.

I could avoid the subject. I could collect my salary, look forward to a pension (which is a bit lower according to the stock market lately, but I digress), distract myself and others in creative ways. I could go silent.

This is why prophetic ministry is so important.

I could engage the conflict, but with a convicted humility (a concept that guided the Commission on a Way Forward, a mindset that reminds me that I could be wrong) that holds values while maintaining curiosity and a posture of listening. And it does not demonize the other.

We are in a few crises, mostly of our own creation. We could name them— wars in Ukraine and Iran, economy (gas prices are harming the working poor and large corporations), the Epstein sexual trafficking, the degrading political rhetoric including presidential F-bombs on Easter. The church has a role in responding, institutions have a role, individuals have a role, politicians have a role, philanthropies have a role, citizens have a role. It takes all of us to be a village that seeks a better future, cares for the people God places in our path, and indeed remembers that God loves this world.

I got that last phrase from John 3:16.

Of course, none of this is rational. We have made it easier to purchase a gun and harder to vote. What does it mean to facilitate the placement of guns (assault weapons) in the hands of people, but keep people away from the voting booth? These are behaviors rooted in our violent pasts. And, as the book title suggests, someday we will all have been opposed to all of this.

I wrote about just war this week. There is some partisan support for going to war, but not a majority of the public. War as an act of Christian nationalism, the antithesis of patriotism, the antithesis of Christian faith, is not just war.

Why should warfare be just? Because people die in wars, futures are sacrificed, the cause must be a just one (oil is not a sufficient cause, although it has become co-mingled in all of this), and the innocent must not be targeted (every person is created in God’s image according to Genesis 1). War is also about what it means to be pro-life.

I am not trying to win a rational argument here. You may not see a crisis. If you see a crisis, I invite you not to make it worse. I appeal to you not to avoid it, walking by on the other side of the road. I snuck a parable in there. Do you know it?

I invite you to engage the crisis in a way that might bring about healing.

  • Conversations across political lines.
  • Small acts of kindness.
  • Calls to political officials.
  • Financial support of your church’s mission, or a non-profit related to food or housing.
  • Prayers for peace.
  • Love of neighbors and even enemies.
  • Seeing the best in each other.
  • Dialing down the violent rhetoric.
  • Giving each other some grace.
  • Acting in the interest of the most vulnerable.
  • But avoiding a crisis, just as we might avoid an illness or a disease, does not lead to our health and flourishing. This is true for an individual and for a nation.

“Grinding the Beans” is the Substack blog of Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., leader of the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. This article is excerpted with permission from his April 11, 2025 post.