The events of January 6, 2021 were like nothing else in our country’s recent
history: a mob stormed and invaded the U.S. Capitol, threatening violence and
disrupting Congress in an effort to overturn an election, and committing theft
and vandalism. The event left five persons dead and a nation badly shaken.
Similar groups demonstrated at or besieged capitol buildings in other states.
What is God revealing to us in these events, and how is God calling and
empowering us to respond?
It is not enough to condemn the assault on the Capitol building, or to demand
that those who participated in it be held to account. The assault was the
bitter fruit of repeated and blatant violations of the commandment, “You shall
not bear false witness against your neighbor” – not merely false statements,
but lies intended to hurt and oppress others whom God calls us to love.
The mob was incited by a steady stream of lies about the election from holders
of the highest offices in the land, spread through social media. It is no
coincidence that the lies were focused on overturning election results in urban
areas with large populations of Black and Brown voters. The lies and the
assault were ultimately rooted in the pervasive and longstanding lies of white
supremacy – lies that have protected the power and privilege of one part of the
community at the expense of persons of a different race or national origin.
Those besieging the U.S. Capitol could be seen erecting crosses, carrying flags
with Christian symbols and “Jesus saves” banners – one more example of the ways
that the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ has been twisted to support racial
and other forms of social and political oppression. The assault, and the lies
that fueled it, are attacks not only on our democracy, but also on the way of
Jesus and on all who long and work for the realization of God’s beloved
community of love and justice.
In this moment, when anxiety, anger and even despair over our nation threaten
to overwhelm us, the church year points us to wellsprings of Christian
imagination, courage, and hope.
The assault on the Capitol happened on Epiphany, the day we recall the
manifestation of God’s true life- giving purpose for all people and all
creation. Next Sunday commemorates Jesus’ baptism. Our own baptism calls us to
die to sin and repent, as individuals and as a church, of all the ways we have
betrayed God’s purpose by speech or silence. But baptism also gives us new life
in the Spirit which “renews the face of the earth” (Ps. 104), empowering us for
the work of repairing our fragmented nation with the courage to tell painful
truths. Above all, we know that we are not alone or abandoned, for in the
Christmas season just past we again celebrated the gift of Immanuel, “God with
us,” incarnate in the midst of this sinful and
unjust world, the light of grace and truth which the darkness has not, and will
not, overcome. (John 1:5, 14)
Approved by the Board of Directors January 8,
2021
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