Faith Works 4-18-20
Jeff Gill
Pray for those with responsibilities
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I'm going out on a limb here. But it needs to be said. Not for any political reasons whatsoever, other than for the common good, but as a pastor.
Please pray for our president.
Look, I really do get it. Regular readers of this column know I have friends and correspondents across the spectrum, from Marxists to theo-monarchists (Democrats & Republicans cluster together in the middle of the range I'm proud to communicate with). And for a large chunk of you, some things are true that I'm not even trying to argue with. Donald Trump is upsetting because:
a) he's rich.
b) he's a bad Harvey Comics parody of a rich person. No, it's true, look at the shots of his penthouse in Trump Tower.
c) he's a Republican (okay, about as much a one as Bernie was a Democrat, but that's how he ran).
d) he has done little to communicate any sense of a wider understanding of the world outside of his immediate bubble of wealth & privilege (exhibit A: Mar-a-Lago).
e) he displays a frightening level of arrogance in areas where humility would be reasonable (his treatment of military advisers on the Joint Chiefs of Staff level is unnerving even to many of his supporters).
f) his treatment of women in his personal & public life, just sticking to what's incontrovertibly documented, is appalling.
Yes, I know some of you would like to add to that list. I only stopped because I think the point is made: he's not a nice or even a good person.
He is also the president of the country, and at least to us Americans, I think we would be well advised for our own peace of mind to pause a moment and pray for the man.
Because he is a man, and he is flawed, and he may not be who I wanted to see in the Oval Office, but I've been disappointed before. I watched in the flurry of online services last week heading into Easter a liturgy for Holy Week from an Episcopal church in Massachusetts, where a friend online is rector. I don't know his politics at all, but I do know the Book of Common Prayer a bit, and I was both startled and reminded in hearing online the phrase "pray for our president, Donald" in the petitions, including the name of their governor and mayor and presiding bishop and others in authority. And that traditional prayer is in the Anglican prayer book not because of politics, but because in the Bible, Paul says to Timothy:
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way."
Paul goes on to make it clear he doesn't have any concern for monarchy per se, it's just that those whose job it is to provide the possibility for a peaceful and quiet life warrant at least a little of our prayer time.
And yes, I watched briefings this week that left me concerned. But I also have to add to the anger and frustration and fury that's all over social media -- I saw a man under great pressure. Whether I think he's handling it well is a separate issue -- I saw a man under great pressure. And he holds the office. He's already been impeached, and was not removed from office. You can rant and rail all you want about how and why you think he got there, and why Congress won't remove him, but he holds the office. And holds no small part of our future in his hands.
So pray for our president. Both for him, if you believe such spiritual actions can have an action at a distance on some level, mystical or quantum or however you understand that, but also for YOU. We need to pray, not to change God, but to transform our own awareness and attitudes.
Pray for Gov. Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton (I know many of us have found that an easier spiritual discipline to remember), and for your mayors and health departments and other officials stuck in so many impossible positions. But we don't pray for any such people, or "for all people" because they're good people. We pray that they might become good, that all people might find the path to become holy, even.
Between those Holy Week liturgies, and my own personal prayer this week, I found myself confronted with how much I needed to pray for the president. I pray that he find peace, that he counsels with wisdom, and that he is open to discernment. Some of the next few decisions he will make are as unprecedented and fraught with error on either hand as anything a president has faced since Harry S. Truman. I think praying for the ones making some of these decisions is good for them, and for me, and for us all.
Elections are another matter altogether. But my prayers are and must be bipartisan and impartial . . . except as Jesus said, "It is not those who are well who need a physician . . . I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32)
Sinners. Which includes me. Let's pray for each other, too.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he knows he's standing in the need of prayer. Tell him whom you pray for at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.
