Thank God our time is now
Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 12:24PM 
Yesterday's events are obviously deeply disturbing and also, in my view, not very surprising. I was pleased to see a number of Republicans retreat from their prior efforts and also make clear statements condemning violence and insisting on the peaceful transfer of power. I assume it's too little, too late, but I hope I'm wrong. I hope this will be a needed wake up call for those in power to focus on the truth and their commitment to the Constitution, not a commitment to Trumpism, and certainly not to their own "electability." (Note that I've also spent the last four years encouraging Democrats to focus on duty and truth, rather than demonizing their opponents.)
The fact is, though, I don't have any control over what happens next, but I can say the prayers, I can love my enemies, I can vote responsibly, and I can continue to hold my friends and myself to account. I can, with God's help and the love of my brothers and sisters in Christ, seek checks on my own blindness and work to identify and repent of my own sins. I can forgive the sins of others.
We had a brief vision of bipartisan agreement yesterday as our leaders had a terrifying experience of the "now when wrong/ Comes up to face us everywhere." I'm guessing that agreement will begin to fray almost immediately - I believe there was almost a fist fight on the floor of the House early this morning as Republicans and Democrats scuffled over who was to blame.
Mitt Romney reminded us that the best way to correct course is for leaders to tell voters the truth. That holds in our parishes, as well. Of course, "the truth" is not that Republicans are evil or that Trump supporters are simply deluded morons/racists. It is true that there was not widespread fraud in this election and that Joe Biden was duly elected President. Just as Donald Trump was duly elected President in 2016.
If you cringe at that latter statement and start adding a bunch of caveats (and I do a bit), take a moment to notice how you are also resisting the plain fact. And then imagine what it must be like for millions and millions of Americans - some of whom are your parishioners, family, friends, and neighbors - to have lost an election they believe was absolutely critical to the future, and to be told over and over again by their leaders that the results were due to widespread fraud.
I can't control that but I can seek to understand it and to have empathy. I can say the prayers, I can love my enemies. I can unequivocally condemn violence, whether from "my" side or the "other" side. I can seek and acknowledge truth, whoever says it. I can repent and I can offer forgiveness. I can thank God our time is now.
Michelle Heyne, OA
Presiding Sister
Order of the Ascension
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This was sent to all members of the Order of the Ascension this morning, and has been slightly edited.
Reader Comments (1)
While reading Sister Michelle's comments I was also in a process with OA novices asking them to look at skills, knowledge and stances/attitudes needed in parish development work. The last category has been of special interest for me --stance. attitude, bearing, demeanor. The application for the novices in parish work gets picked up in something like the Loving Critics triangle --is your primary stance in the parish that of a loving critic, an uncritical lover, or an unloving critic? We could use the model to understand the stances people take toward the nation. The matter of stance then pushes further into things such as Michelle's thoughts on Senator Romney -- “The best way we can show respect for the voters who were upset is by telling them the truth.” To combine the two themes - a loving critic stance might be shown in a high value about 1) the truth and 2) telling people the truth. The result would be rather different if the primary stance was to be an unloving critic (America is founded upon racism and oppression or American is controlled by an elite hiding the real truth from us). Michelle points us back to the stance of humility in which we honestly assess the extent of our influence in each situation.I don't get to control so many things. I do get to control if I say the prayers and speak against violence whether from the right or the left. And I do get to decide wither I will be a loving critic of parish and nation.