O God, Grant Courage and Hope
Mar 22, 2023
By The Rev. James O’Hanlon
We live in strange and frightening times, politically and socially. Many people have expressed concern about violent reactions, or even just more ruptures in our social lives, around reports about an indictment of the former President. I know many of us to feel a lingering unease and even trauma from watching the events of January 6, 2021, and fear another episode. January 6 continues to instill fear because of the seeming blindness of some to the threat posed to our government. Regrettably, it seems that this is another time when People of Color and White people don’t see the same event with the same feeling or understanding. For People of Color to watch as White Supremacists pushed past security and police and over-ran, our Capitol is a feeling many White people cannot understand.
I find reassurance in the 1,000 individuals who have been brought to justice in the largest criminal investigation in American history. The U.S. Department of Justice is perhaps only halfway through its action in this proceeding in response to the Capitol Riot. People who may have answered a call to disregard our legal and political process in 2021 would need to think twice about doing it again. If any group attempts a disruption, I don’t think they will find it as easy as they did on January 6.
Here’s another time to get serious about managing stress and dealing with anxiety. We all need to care for ourselves with healthy habits, which make a big difference. Prayer is helpful to many people, including prayerful meditation. The more we pray, the more powerful it can be. It’s good to have a prayer or two that we memorize. The Lord’s Prayer is always good when we need to trust that God’s “will” will prevail and God will give us what we need “this day.”
Tomorrow begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Let us reach out to our Muslim neighbors, friends, and family with greetings for a blessed time of prayer, fasting, and charity. On Sunday, Rabbi Ben Goldberg, our neighbor here on King Street, will come and talk to us about the season that brings his congregation to Passover and us to Holy Week. I will then visit his congregation to do the same.
People of faith also need to be active in defending justice and the order that all of us, especially the most vulnerable, rely on to get through each day. Cooperation between Democrats and Republicans is at an all-time low, and we must try to reverse that trend. Building political cooperation, however, needs to begin with a united stand by all parties against extremism, such as we saw on January 6.
Last November, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offered this brief message Against Christian Nationalism.
We need “thoughts and prayers," but we also need action. We need cooperative action and action by houses of worship and other groups to build bridges across our diverse society and engage in difficult issues.
Here’s a prayer from our worship book that I turn to often:
O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.