I stopped attending churches with an evangelical bent over a decade ago. I didn’t realize that I was experiencing marginalization until after I had left. When I had started attending, I had just come out of a bad marriage, so I carried that divorcee stigma, as well as that of being a single parent, having a slightly (I guess?) observable disability, and being a little outside of neurotypical parameters (Probably. Never officially diagnosed—in my generation stims and sensory disorder-related behavior was slapped or bullied out of you--therefore, masked.)
Now I am in a community in which everyone’s pursuit of Christ is celebrated and supported, without being presumptuous in a micro-managing way regarding the Holy Spirit’s workings. Heavy yoke shed.
That said, many in this community are in the crosshairs of the looming Trump administration’s policies due to their foundation upon xenophobic, homophobic, anti-trans, and racist perspectives which permeates this future GOP-dominated governing body. There is a deep sense of disappointment and concern for our collective and individual safety, as well as serious contemplation and prayer regarding how we will move though this season.
This past Sunday, thinking about this situation, I imagined the evangelical congregations engaged in unbridled celebration, given that the candidate many of them have deemed to be “God’s chosen one” has been declared the victor in his presidential office run. There are three congregations I check in on via their online video Sunday service offerings occasionally(from which I suspect I am about to be blocked). I peeked in on their services dated 11/10, and I did not witness the kind of celebratory spirit I had expected. The first video I pulled up was from what is typically one of most overtly political pulpits and I was surprised to see they had a guest pastor. Could be any number of reasons for that but given how strongly politically bent they are, having given certain politicians a platform on their social media pages, I was taken aback that they chose not to be present for what I would have thought to have bee quite an auspicious moment for evangelicals. I pulled up a second congregation’s service and found it was not particularly celebratory. No women seen on the worship team. I recognized one band member from years ago, as he had tried to convince me of the virtues of the Proud Boys. Ever dumbfounding to me. The pastor was present, but not particularly upbeat from the pulpit, and a major theme of the sermon was about integrity. The third video service I’d watched also had their lead pastor in the house, but again, no observable happy victorious vibe—just a sermon kicked off by overtly and deliberately mis-pronouncing the name of the location of one of their campuses, as it is a Native American word, then quickly moving into an angry rant about abortion. I wondered, “Geez, you got what you wanted regarding that issue—why you still barking about it?”
Then a theory occurred to me: They never believed he was going to win. They completely thought there would be a Harris/Walz administration, and they could coast on the flames of their foundational marginalization, complaining about and blaming a female of color for their every woe, while straining though every policy to find evidence to support their persecution complex for the next four years. But, uh-oh. Here we all are, staring down the barrel of increased national debt as well as personal debt, likely failed family businesses from the threat of tariffs, produce rotting in fields with no cheap labor to harvest it, and loved ones/family members in increasing danger due to their race or LGBTQIA status—assumed or actual. Evangelical pastors perhaps are fearing meager offering plate fruit because of the likely financial crunch on their congregants (hence the appeal for “integrity” perhaps? “Don’t be cheating on those tithes!”).
Are they asking themselves why they didn’t just stay away from the polls? They could be still enjoying the benefits of legislation passed by liberals, like the Affordable Care Act (yeah—that’s “Obama Care”—the healthcare plan that will likely be repealed by the Trump administration and never replaced, just like his infrastructure plan that only manifested as barely a zygote of a talking point. That product of a “concept of a plan” will be aborted without a second thought!). Could have planned ongoing evenings spent cussing out the libs and “that female” while watching Fox News after work, but now the faithful radical right individual (as well as any one of us) might be heading off to a second or third job instead. Who can be blamed now? And worst of all, the Trump supporters will look in the mirror and see one of the people responsible for this situation staring them back in the face.
At least though, half the country won’t be experiencing that. Of course, as ever, God may prove gracious. But there are and will still be consequences. No one is celebrating that. Except, of course, the members of that diabolical administration.
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