Turn and Face the Strange

by

A United Methodist Insight Commentary

I'm no neuroscientist, but as a professional spiritual director I've studied enough about trauma's effects – the way trauma reshapes our brains and nervous systems – to know that what's happening in the United States these days isn't just political change. Daily trauma is harming us collectively in body, mind and spirit.

We Americans are closest to the trauma, but it's rippling around the world in waves of human suffering and insecurity. What's more, its effects are likely long-term, if not permanent. We've found it hard to name the pain, which trauma therapists say is the first step toward healing. We can't heal because the trauma is ongoing. As the psalmist has written, how do we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

The most thoughtful among us are scrambling for handles on this moment. Much as we'd like to pull the covers over our heads until the harm is over, we may do better to follow the counsel of rock star David Bowie's song "Changes:" turn and face the strange. Facing "the strange" will require much of us.

Some say the times call for courage. Thomas Aquinas, the great Catholic theologian whose work has shaped much Christian thought, reached back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle to define this virtue. Three years ago Christopher Beem of Penn State University's Center on Democracy wrote for The Conversation:

"Aristotle defined virtue as 'a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect.' So, for example, Aristotle said that courage is found between recklessness – an excess of courage – on the one hand and cowardice, its deficiency, on the other. ... Deciding how to be courageous is never simple and depends dramatically on circumstances, but courage will always be found between these extremes."

Every Wednesday in March, people of faith are gathering on Capitol Hill, calling Congress to show courage in defying the Trump Administration's harmful actions. United Methodist volunteers and staff from the General Board of Church and Society housed in the Methodist Building across from the Capitol are joining the event's organizer, Sojourners, in these noontime witnesses.

Some say the times call for empathy, a virtue that Elon Musk, the unelected co-president, has called the "fundamental weakness of Western civilization." As with so much else Musk says and does, his comment directly demeans Christianity. From the Sermon on the Mount to Matthew 25's parable of caring for the most vulnerable, Jesus preached, taught and modeled for his followers the virtue of empathy – the ability to feel the pain of another.

United Methodist Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai (at left) knows the spiritual value of empathy. As the state government erased the civil rights protections of transgender people, the bishop wrote a pastoral letter to Iowa United Methodists: "I am heartbroken by the punitive legislation passed by Iowa lawmakers and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds removing civil rights protections from trans Iowans. ... to our trans siblings, I know that what is happening here in Iowa and around our nation is terrifying and disheartening. Yet, Scripture affirms that you are children of God who are precious and honored in God’s sight (Isaiah 43:4). I applaud your integrity and your courage. We see you. You are not erased. And you are not alone."

Toughest of all, many affirm that the times call for endurance.

The World Methodist Council, along with the United Methodist Church and others, will sponsor a March 19 webinar titled "Steadfastness as Resistance." Its panel includes Christians from South Africa and Palestine, two regions that have known racial oppression, even torture. Every torturer's goal is to break down the ability to endure pain. Not merely to cause pain, but to break down the ability to withstand pain without compromising one's faithfulness, one's commitment, one's sense of self.

Anyone who lives with chronic physical, mental or emotional pain knows that there comes a time when one is willing to do just about anything to make the pain stop. Tyrants know that a promise to remove pain can manipulate masses, as we saw in the 2024 presidential election. That is the crucial inflection point, and the point that today's federal leaders are pushing us toward: the moment when we give in, give up and give over what they want, namely power and money.

Scripture offers many exhortations to endure, from the Old Testament's psalms and prophets through Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. What the scriptures imply, but don't always spell out, is that endurance is harder to accomplish on one's own. Being part of a community strengthens us not only in moments of distress, but over the long run. Building endurance offers a tool for overcoming trauma.

As we "turn to face the strange" of these times, we who follow Jesus are being called to both inward and outward tasks in building community for endurance's sake.

Inwardly, we're called to embrace the spiritual practices that reinforce our faith in Christ. Despite our lifelong faith environment, I and others are finding ourselves hard-pressed by temptations to despair and to forsake Jesus' teachings. For myself, in addition to sustaining a daily online prayer time with others, I've adopted a physical approach I found on Facebook: "Stop. Unclench your jaw. Soften your brow. Relax your shoulders. Breathe."

Outwardly, we are called to ease whatever suffering we can immediately, even if it's only to feed and shelter a hungry, unhoused person for one day, for Christ is in everyone being harmed by what's happening in Washington, D.C. Although our democracy continues to live on paper, we must acknowledge that the United States is now governed by tyranny. Realistically, we may not be able to shake off this tyranny in our lifetimes.

Thus, we're called also to bear witness to Jesus' message that God intends for us to live in courageous, empathetic, enduring, beloved community. God's beloved community transcends human tyranny. When we fix our eyes on this prize, as our Black siblings have done since America was founded, our way clears, our faith strengthens, our hope brightens, and we endure.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 as a media channel to amplify news and views for, by and about marginalized and under-served United Methodists.