A Letter to the 18%

A letter to the disillusioned, the discouraged, the confused, the scared, and the vulnerable.

Like many in our nation, I've been trying to process the election results. While I knew our current outcome was possible, I am more surprised than not to see it come to pass. As a white male, I've taken a few days to listen to other voices, especially in the black community, to hear how they are processing this. 

According to the recent exit polls, 22% of people surveyed identified as "white evangelical." Of that group, 82% of them voted for Trump (source).

What these 82% of Christians will eventually realize is that many of us in the remaining 17-18% are struggling with the church precisely because we were raised to follow Jesus. I grew up in Sunday school learning stories of how radically different Jesus was from the way the world operates, only to later grow up and watch many of the people who taught me about Jesus embrace someone who looks nothing like Him. You likely have a similar story.

We are the ones who cannot reconcile how this many people can support a convicted felon who constantly belittles and dehumanizes his opponents, who incited an insurrection after failing to concede his loss, who has been found guilty of sexual assault and rape, and who threatens to use the military against his opponents. We wonder what they could possibly receive in return that would warrant this trade. Is it protection from outsiders, or stricter laws for fetuses, or the economy?

Many are celebrating the economic relief that will hopefully come their way (which appears to be quite a few people, given how well the stock market is doing). By contrast, much of the current despair we feel is the realization that it appears voting for Trump provided everything people were looking for.

But did it?

It reminds me of a story in Genesis 25 about two brothers (Jacob and Esau) making a deal.

As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob. One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!”

At this moment, the younger brother Jacob comes up with a plan. Admittedly, if he had told anyone of the plan in advance, I'm sure they would have told him that the likelihood of it working is slim to none. Either he had no one to talk him out of it, or he thought he had nothing to lose in trying. So, he proposes a deal to his brother.

“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.” “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?” But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.”

Can you imagine the absurdity of this deal? Trading away your birthright for a bowl of stew?  But what happens next is shocking.

So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.

Esau didn't realize it at the time, but he would later regret this decision. I remember reading this story as a kid and finding it a bit hard to believe. But perhaps it's more common than we realize.

There's an anonymous quote often attributed to Mark Twain that "It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they've been fooled." At this point, after all we've seen from Trump, I'm honestly not sure what could change the minds of those who continue to give him support. Yet the church will have to grapple with the fact that white evangelicals see Trump as the way forward.

I'd suggest that the majority of Americans—especially Christian Americans—just made a deal like Esau did. And while this week has been filled with celebrations and relief, I predict that like Esau, they will eventually realize this is not the deal they thought it was. It might even happen with the economy itself. While there are a variety of reasons why good people decided it made sense to vote for Trump, I anticipate that more than a few of them might second guess the trade in the years to come.

My hope is that giving Christians this power they crave may be the beginning of the undoing of Christendom in our country (where church and power/influence are joined together). Maybe this power and spotlight is what is needed to expose that this version of Christianity doesn't actually look like Jesus. 

I've noticed two shared reactions of Christians in the 18% who did not support Trump. The first is that many are glad they already left the institutionalized church as this is further confirmation that the church does not look like Jesus. The second reaction is many Christians who don't know if they will be able to return to their church community after this. When people see the church embrace a person who dehumanizes the people Jesus teaches us to love, we should not be surprised that many will not want to be a part of it. 

While I don't have much reason to be optimistic about it, I will maintain hope that in the future, many of these 82% of Christians will rethink this choice and be open to move forward in a different direction. If that starts to happen, they will need some of us to be a safe space for them to change their minds. I pray we can learn to have the grace to welcome them rather than the pride of proving them wrong.

And I offer the following encouragement to those of you feeling despair right now. As theologian Walter Brueggemann observed, "Kings never seem to be able to silence the prophets for long." The voices will rise from the margins. Now more than ever, we must listen to minority voices, especially those in the black community who have a profound understanding of how to endure. The first step in moving forward is finding a way to process and grieve what just happened.

One of the uniquely profound aspects of Jesus is that His power is best revealed in loss. He conquered the power of evil not with an angelic army but by his death on a cross. 

"[Jesus] canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." Colossians 2:14-15

It is only in the death of the old that new life emerges. I suspect we are about to see more unprecedented changes coming our way than any of us realize in this moment. That's when the Esau trade may become apparent to many who voted for him. 

The upside-down kingdom of a Jesus-looking God is always the way of faithfulness. May we love well and be willing to sacrifice our own good for the benefit of others. Finally, if you're struggling to find the words, here is a prayer from Laura Jean Truman that might help you move forward:

God,

Keep my anger from becoming meanness.

Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.

Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking.

Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.

Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love.

Keep me fiercely kind.

Amen.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash