When To Say the Thing - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

“  ...And then it dawned on me: People will expect me to have something to say about this. I’m the leader of a community that seeks to embody Christ’s loving presence in the real world. In my sermons and my blogs I talk about real world events and how they impact our lives as Christians. I don’t have some huge national audience, but I do speak to and for a particular community and within our little church world, there is expectation that I have something to say. 

And to be fair – there are a good number of people in our congregation that actually expected (or hoped) I would say nothing about it. We have people across the political spectrum in our community that would prefer we never acknowledge, discuss, or spiritually reflect on current events. Millions of Christians understand the church similar to how we were taught about the dinner table – don’t talk about politics.  

I for one find not talking about politics very attractive. I would love never to talk about politics again. Unfortunately for me, religion is and always has been political, and religious adherence is and always has had political implications. I don’t like this any more than you do. Sadly for us, it is only 100% true. 

Anyway I thought to myself, “How I respond to this matters to others.” Which is fine. That’s the job. And also, I was standing there in my little useless body in my little galley kitchen with my hands in my dough and my tears on my cheeks, no less an overwhelmed witness than anyone else who was watching. I was just as confused and scared and broken-hearted as you. “How much time,” I wondered, “will it take before I know what to say?”

 

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