Despite the multitude of indictments against Trump, he is the favored child of the Republican voting base. My logical brain is shocked. My religious brain says, but, of course.
Of course the man that faith leaders chose to represent them in American political life continues to thrive. They spent years lifting him up in their churches, declaring him as God’s chosen one: the man who has come to save us. Of course Trump remains their favorite because if he loses, they do too.
But here’s the thing. America does not need one man to save us. (And if we did, that man did all the saving we needed over 2000 years ago.)
We don’t need one single man to save us. We need saving from what we have collectively become.
Somewhere along the line, we stopped trusting ourselves in favor of trusting others.
We turned to preachers, trusting that they would guide us through life. Wives were encouraged to submit to their husbands, Children told to stay quiet and obey. Leaders were no longer chosen for their wisdom; instead we chose leaders with voices loud enough to quiet our inner turmoil.
As the world shrunk, we no longer felt safe. New people and ideas came at us and we were afraid. Asking questions felt like peeking through the curtains in the middle of the night. We became terrified of the answers we might find.
So we stopped asking and started trusting…others. We trusted our preachers and our leaders and our families. We trusted anybody who would tell us what to do because we were no longer sure we could trust the one person God wants us to trust the most, ourselves.
God created us because we are beautiful and powerful and full of wisdom. God created us to be exactly who God made us to be, not to place aside our entire selves to be subdued at the feet of another.
God modeled themselves in the trinity to show us how necessary we are to one another. Even God didn’t work alone. There is no One in charge. No One to rule them all. It is us, together, joining hands as we seek what is best for our collective lives.
I will forever be skeptical when another person tells me that they are my only hope. No one person will ever be my only hope. All of us, together, are my hope. I need and want the full diversity of God’s people by my side to help guide the way.
It is true that we are better together, but still, a single leader must be chosen to represent us on the world stage. So, please, God, please, hear my prayer. Let us trust ourselves enough to hear your guiding voice as we choose a leader who is worthy of our trust.
Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash
god forever tries 