The following is a response that I gave to the Seattle Times reporter recently when interviewed for the front page story on leaders in our region and what they are seeing and feeling in this current election.
HOW ARE YOU OKAY WITH VOTING FOR TRUMP WHEN HE HAS DIVIDED OUR COUNTRY?
We are not victims of division.
Division is a choice.
If we are going to allow our hearts to be divided, and if we are going to make our neighbor our enemy, that is our choice.
We do not get to be victims of Trump.
We do not get to say, “I am a victim of Trump, therefore I am entitled to be bitter and vindictive.”
We do not get to take all of our problems and blame them on Trump. That is not what responsible people do.
This is actually one of my roles in being a pastor. I come alongside of people who are in dire situations. Like, I do funerals. I am with families who are completely heart broken. I am with people who have been victims of radical injustice, and in that place, it is my role to walk with people through their pain and tragedy, and to walk with people in such a way, where I can say, “Look, you are a victim of this tragedy, but please do not take on a victim mentality, because if you do, it will anchor you to the past, and you will never be able to engage your future.”
“…please do not take on a victim mentality, because if you do, it will anchor you to the past, and you will never be able to engage your future.”
I am concerned about the roar that I hear in our country right now. You have a lot of people that are taking on a victim mentality, and I am not just talking about Democrats, I am also talking about Republicans.
Politics has become a religion. It’s the new religion. A huge cult. On both sides. You go far enough to the left, or far enough to the right and you will feel the same spirit, the same frequency that is in both camps. It’s the same temperature, the same hostility, and the same irrationality.
When people are attached to that frequency it affects their creativity, it affects their relationships, it affects their marriages, and they are no longer capable of creating great things on the Earth.
To the point that we allow ourselves to get triggered by all these narratives, to that degree, we feel that we are no longer responsible to shape the culture, to do good, to be creative, and engaging. Because now we can’t, our hands are tied, we are victims. For how can we do anything good when Trump is in office? How can there be any sense of justice or reconciliation when HE is in there?!
And so, I believe it is a radically dangerous world view, when you feel like your influence is limited because of whoever is leading the country.