January 08, 2021
Dear Central Atlantic Conference,
Growing up in Washington D.C. and geographically close to several Presidential transitions over my lifetime, I never imagined the events of January 6, 2021. A Confederate flag paraded in the Rotunda. Nooses erected. Five people dead. It was shocking (but not surprising). It was shameful. It was appalling. It was heartbreaking. All on a day, in a stroke of bitter and perhaps revealing irony, when we traditionally celebrate the manifestation of God’s glory among us on the feast day of the Epiphany.
The brazen assault on the Capitol by supporters of the current President broke into far more than just a building. It broke into the underpinnings of our democracy. It broke into our psyches and our spirits. It broke into the ideals of justice and freedom that are at the heart of this country. And what is both baffling and truly tragic is the ethical and moral failure of leadership that neither disabled nor condemned the violence -- but enabled and commended it.
It does not matter whether anyone reading this is a Republican or Democrat or lives in a Red or Blue State. What matters is that a peaceful transition of power is important not only because it a best practice of our political system since the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, but because simply put, it is the right thing to do.
I firmly believe that as Christians there are at least three other things that are right to do ‘for such a time as this (Est. 4:14).” They are the following: