“Witnesses to a better way”

This week was the anniversary of what we now call “9/11.” In my family, the villainy and tragedy of that day is personal: our youngest daughter turned 5 on Sept. 11, 2001, but her party, like everything else, was postponed due to our national crisis. Twenty-one years, two wars, and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, there is no peace in the Middle East, and now we know that Al Qaeda is rebuilding.

Meanwhile, Americans are approaching what we routinely call “a consequential election.”

Whatever your political stripe, anxiety and tension grow with daily amplified accusations that the other side is “tearing down our democracy.” No matter who wins in November, half the country will be relieved and the other half fearful. Politics will not save us.

What is a Christian to do? How are we to keep from falling into the trap of the fallen world’s polarities that lionize allies and demonize opponents, ensuring only more of the same?

When Jesus made His first public appearance to the war-torn people of Israel, he announced: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15). To follow Jesus — the incarnate, crucified, and risen Lord of heaven and earth — is to learn to take God’s kingdom view of all things human…

(The Rev. Bruce Johnson is pastor of Urbanna United Methodist Church. His email address is rbrucejohnson2010@gmail.com.)