Hundreds of people gather on Jan. 10 in Portland, Ore., in a candlelight vigil for those killed or injured by federal immigration agents earlier in the week. (Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News)
About the time I was 10 or 11 – old enough for a child to begin to reason out some things – I began to fear the end of the world.
Being raised in a Southern evangelical Christian environment, I’d heard plenty of hellfire and brimstone sermons, even if I didn’t understand them. I heard over and over about “getting right with the Lord” to avoid eternal damnation. The coming of Jesus wasn’t a joyous event to anticipate; it was a fearsome judgment, and I was always unworthy of salvation no matter how many times I gave myself to the Lord.
What was worse, though, were the predictions of the terrible time before Jesus’s return to earth, the time of persecution often called The Tribulation. It’s when Revelation’s horrific visions of suffering come to pass. I feared that the most.
Back then I didn’t understand about metaphors and similes. I didn’t understand that those vivid terrifying images were really symbols for intangible imaginings. I didn’t know that apocalyptic writers used code to educate believers and disguise their resistance from tyrannical retribution.
It never occurred to me until now how well those mysterious images conveyed the unfathomable nature of evil. Nor did I understand how easily evil’s minions could corrupt a style of biblical literature meant to convey hope and justice.
Now, like the ancient apocalyptic writers, we’re living through a time when law, justice and kindness – simple human decency -- have been usurped and perverted by those who lust for power and wealth. Those of us in the majority culture, who’ve never experienced such oppression before, stand open-mouthed in awe before such bald-faced evil. In this, we have much to learn from the Black church.
What’s worst for many of us, comes in the reality that those who claim to follow Jesus, as we do, pervert virtue and perpetrate these heinous crimes. The overlay of Christianity to justify the evil now abroad in the land hurts as much as if hot pokers were shoved into our eyes.
Yet we cannot turn away. Not because we are riveted by the sights of what’s happening – although we are – but because we are compelled by Jesus’s gospel to rebuke and resist the evil before us. Tribulation terrors have become real again. All Revelation’s metaphors – the whore of Babylon, the devouring dragon, the persecution of the faithful and more – have come alive in new ways.
The difference between now and my childhood nightmares comes in the gospels’ assurance of love and justice. Life has taught me, still teaches me, that God is present no matter what, if I only pay attention. I would be terrified to face the agents of evil as Renee’ Good did and hundreds of others are now doing, but I hope that if I am called to such a task I would do so for the love of God and neighbor.
My dear friend and colleague Victoria Rebeck, communications director for the Northern Illinois Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, posted on Facebook this week that our national situation will get much worse because of President Donald Trump’s threat to use military force to stop protests in Minneapolis over Good’s murder. She’s right, and we mustn’t shy away from the prospect of future pain and degradation.
We mustn’t give in to the impulse to return evil for evil, but to challenge evil with all the goodness we can muster. We must be as bold and courageous as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate on Jan. 19 with a day of service. We must persevere as strongly as his spiritual inspiration, Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Mahatma (“great soul”). We must be as clear-eyed and forceful as Dr. King’s mentor, Howard Thurman, whose intellectual brilliance undergirded the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century.
Our roles in today’s movement may be small, but I’m convinced that each act of loving resistance sends out a wave of positive energy that beats back the tide of evil. There’s no single roadmap, no hitchhiker’s guide, to what we must do. We will only know how to act when the occasion presents itself.
We prepare for that moment by diligent study of scripture and the writings of ancient and modern-day saints. We prepare by participating fully in our faith communities. We prepare by shoring up our family ties and connections with friends and like-minded others. We prepare by letting go of our preconceptions of what we deserve and hold fast to forgiveness and service to others. We support one another by sharing our stories of faith at every turn. And whenever we must, we hold one another while we weep through our suffering.
Yes, we’re living through the Tribulation, and it’s terrifying. But the witness of history and faith promises that we will endure by holding fast to God and one another. “In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God.” (“A Statement of Faith of the United Church in Canada,” United Methodist Hymnal No. 883).
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.