These are dark days, it seems. Most of my social media streams are full of pretty angry people, some defending the emerging new political order with its shift towards populism and nationalism and some lamenting it. The opening scene of Donald Trump's presidency has ignited an unprecedented response, with mass marches, popular petitions, firings and hirings that have provoked shock, turbulence and fear around the globe.
On dark days a little bit of hope goes a long way. So I have been taking great delight in two new releases with a positive message. The first is a memoir and the second is a musical composition.
The memoir
Michael Wear has become a friend since he very kindly hosted a reception for me in Washington DC last year. As an adopted person and White House staffer with adoption responsibilities our common concern for finding forever homes for vulnerable children meant an instant connection. So, I was pretty sure I was going to love his memoir Reclaiming Hope, even if I was initially nervous about the idea of someone writing the story of his life while he is still in his 20s. The book is so full of grace, hope and humility that my fears were quickly allayed. There are three reasons you should invest in this book as quickly as you can – before your social media streams overwhelm you with a sense of dread and gloom.
1. There is another way to do politics
I loved the way that Michael speaks so admiringly of Barack Obama. Sometimes the closer you get to one of your heroes the less impressive they seem. But that doesn't seem to be the case in Michael's experience. Yet, and here is the important point for me, Wear is not uncritical of Obama or unsympathetic toward conservative and Republican views on certain key issues.
Wear models for me an appropriate way of engaging in political life. He calls out Obama on his public change of heart in his support of same sex marriage, for example. Whatever your views on the subject, for a Democrat to ask these questions of the administration is incredibly brave. For me it offers a model of gracious critique that could be used to great effect for Christian supporters of Trump, indeed those who are affiliated to any political party.
Ultimately for Christians our allegiance is not to any leader or party: our allegiance is to Christ. So the extent to which we support and follow earthly leaders has to have an elastic limit. With the debate around Trump what I often hear is either unflinching support or unwavering opposition. I am not convinced that hunkering down into these positions will lead to genuine political change. Wear offers us a brave and alternate way of relating to the government – Christians are to be neither attack dogs nor lap dogs. Perhaps we should see ourselves more as guide dogs. We are called to be servants and prophets, bringing light where there is darkness. We seek to serve government as good citizens respecting its rulers, but we speak and act in direct challenge when and where we need to. It is a difficult line to take. Wear shows us that it can be done – and done with dignity.
2. Christians in Opposition
I have many Republican friends who have very few good things to say about the Obama administration. I have many Democrat friends who don't have a good word to say about Republicans. My hope would be this book might encourage the Church that Christians who don't share our political affiliations are still primarily seen as part of the family. Anyone reading Wear's book, whether Republican or Democrat, will not fail to see his clear and sincere faith in Christ.
In my limited dealings with politics, here in the UK and the USA, I have found sincere Christians in every major political party. Those Christians do not necessarily support all of the policies that their parties espouse, just like a Christian who works for a media company would not endorse all of its content, or a Christian who works for the police or the NHS would endorse every decision made within the organisation. But these Christians are seeking to make a positive difference for God within their party's structures. Wear's book helps us to understand some of the struggles that are involved and gives us great hope. There are godly men and women involved in both sides of the political spectrum.
Jonathan Merritt describes US politics like this: "As American evangelicals have become more partisan, American Christianity has suffered as more shy away from the faith." However, Wear longs to marry politics and faith in a different way. Indeed he opens this book with a wonderful quotation from Martin Luther King: "My friends, we have followed the so-called practical way for too long a time now, and it has led inexorably to deeper confusion and chaos. Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and violence. For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of mankind, we must follow another way."
3. Beware the echo chamber
Michael pulls together so many powerful and insightful quotations from Obama's speeches it is hard not to be inspired by him again. What struck me was how clear he had been about his Christian profession. This was not something that had been widely reported, either here or in the US. I can't think of such a powerful political leader who had been quite as clear about their Christian faith, although many Americans continue to believe he was a Muslim. Here's a taster from President Obama's address to the National Prayer Breakfast in 2012:
"Now, we can earnestly seek to see these values lived out in our politics and our policies, and we can earnestly disagree on the best way to achieve these values. In the words of CS Lewis: 'Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme. It is meant for all men at all times, and the particular programme which suited one place or time would not suit another.'
"Our goal should not be to declare our policies as biblical. It is God who is infallible, not us. Michelle reminds me of this often. So instead, it is our hope that people of goodwill can pursue their values and common ground and the common good as best they know how, with respect for each other."
There is great wisdom and humility here, not to mention an exceptional quotation from CS Lewis. I don't remember this address being reported at the time. I would surely have retweeted it had I heard it then. Reading this and other unreported accounts of Obama's faith in Wear's book reminded me of the distorting lens of the media which tends to catastrophise politics or focus on the controversial. The media message is then amplified in the echo chambers of social media and this can mean we are rarely getting an accurate or full picture of what else is going on. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope in this. As we watch the US political landscape change the situation may not be as bad as our news feeds tell us.
The music
The other oasis of hope I have found to lift me from despair over today's politics is the new album from The Brilliance. Sometimes music captures the mood of a moment perfectly. As a student it was REM's Losing my Religion that seemed to me to be the soundtrack for the breakdown of faith for many of my hitherto believing friends. Somehow it was the unlikely song by The Cars, 'Who's Going To Drive You Home?' that managed to help a generation relate to the need for help in the Sudanese famine.
What will be the soundtrack to the Church's response to the 'America first' policies of Trump that has already led to the closing of borders to refugees? I would like to suggest that it is the new album from The Brilliance that should provide the accompaniment to the Christian counter-narrative to xenophobia, nationalism and protectionism. The timing of the album itself is perhaps symbolic; it came on the day that Trump's infamous executive order on refugees and immigration was announced. It has the title All Is Not Lost, which, like the rich collection of songs it contains, signals both a realism about our world's situation and a great hope. It has been really helpful to me to be able to allow David Gungor and John Arndt's lyrics and subtle arrangements to offset the increasingly hysterical tone of the online media conversation.
One entry point I would particularly recommend into the album's rich themes is: 'Turning Tables'. The song was written with Charles Jones it carries on themes from The Brilliance's previous album, Brother, which had as its organising principle the idea of seeing in the enemy and the stranger someone who is your brother. Listening to this song, and indeed the entire album, will allow its theme of hope and reconciliation to resonate around your mind during these dark times.
Turning over Tables
Fear runs deep
Spreading like a virus
Hate is cheap
From afar it cost you nothin'
Sister take my hand
Brother we will stand
Open up your heart and find
Love is turnin' over tables
Breakin' off chains
When I see you in the stranger
I'm no longer a slave
Turnin' over tables
Tearin' down walls
Buildin' up the bridges
Between us all
I heartily recommend these two new releases to you. For some of you it may be particularly exciting to know that All is not Lost is even available on vinyl.
As Christians, we need to keep our heads clear and our hearts open amidst the maelstrom of panic, fear and outrage.
My prayer is that by reclaiming hope, we witness to the unfailing goodness of God who is "the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17).
Dr Krish Kandiah is founding director of Home for Good, a writer, consultant, activist and executive producer of Books for Life.
