Faithful Citizenship
"It is a repudiation of the Resurrection," thundered Father Washington, "to suggest that my destiny is in the hands of anyone but the Risen Christ!"
Reaching for the Infinite by Harold Dean Trulear Several months after the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981, Fr. Paul Washington, the rector of the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia, rose to the pulpit. Fr. Washington, who died in 2002, had gained quite a reputation as a radical church and community leader, having hosted several Black Power conferences in the 1960s and hosted the so-called “Irregular Ordinations” of the first female Episcopal priests in 1974. Peering over his glasses, he scanned the congregation, preparing to make a point. “I attended a banquet last week,” he intoned, “and the speaker declared that, with the election of President Reagan, our destiny is now in the hands of a madman.” Many in the congregation nodded in assent and waited for the good rector to elaborate on his thesis. And elaborate he did—but not on the so-called madness of Reagan. Instead, he chose to focus on destiny. “It is a repudiation of the Resurrection,” thundered Fr. Washington, his voice rising, "to suggest that my destiny is in the hands of anyone but the Risen Christ!" The congregation sat stunned. They expected a denunciation of America's far-right turn, but instead they received something better—a stern reminder that destiny—national and individual, political and communal—
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belongs to God, whose definitive statement of victory over death establishes the ground of all hope. While some might consider such a statement to be a spiritualizing salve in the face of harsh political reality, Fr. Washington's track record as an activist belied any such interpretation. Rather, it is an authentic call to look beyond the political sphere to a transcendent reality when it comes to envisioning the future. How relevant such a statement is in this season of elections, with its attendant hopes and disappointments! With battle lines again drawn along constituencies of race and ethnicity, religion and class, the temptation ever exists to exalt too highly or mourn too deeply the choices of the American electorate. This should not suggest that it makes no difference whom we elect—but it does tell us that political practice and public policy reside within the context of finitude. And Christian citizenship always looks beyond the finite for its sense of hope and destiny. As someone active in research, writing, and mobilization concerning faith and criminal justice, I was excited by Obama’s election in 2008, especially when he named Eric Holder as attorney general. But that excitement diminished to a more cautionary posture when I saw how he handled such public policy issues as prisoner reentry, mass incarceration, and alternative sentencing. Silence on gun control, especially in the wake of the shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, betrayed a realpolitik that frames positions on issues squarely within the limits (another word for "finitude") of campaigning and electability. Maybe I expected too much. Presidents
are not kings (perhaps the only kings left in America are prison wardens). The Founding Fathers saw to that through the establishment of checks and balances. Neither are presidents mere celebrities—a charge brought against Obama in his 2008 campaign. They have a role in governance that affects the lives of many. But the elections of our various leaders in November 2012—and their subsequent inaugurations, installations, and seatings—must always be relativized by the presence to which Fr. Washington pointed on that Sunday in 1981. And they must always be in conversation with the power of that presence as it energizes the faithful to continue our efforts at mobilization and change on behalf of the poor, the sick, the prisoner, and all families affected by lack of access to services, visibility to the powerful, and platform for their voices. The inauguration of Jesus does not occur every four years on a chilly January in Washington. Rather, one discerns Christ's eternal establishment before the world began, his glorification on a Roman cross, his exaltation in the Resurrection, and ultimate coronation in the book of Revelation. And from such an eternal Lordship, Christian citizens draw strength to pray and work, to meditate and mediate, to act and prophesy. Fr. Washington was right—it is a repudiation of the resurrection to assign ultimacy to election results. But it is also a denial of the power of the Resurrection to sit idly by and let politics run its course. Rather, each election becomes an opportunity to take stock of a newly emerging political configuration, recognize its finitude, and then reach for the power of the infinite. These next four years will reflect either an engagement of the life of the Resurrection through ongoing activity, or a repudiation of its reality through undue celebration of benign resignation. Choose life! Harold Dean Trulear is associate professor of applied theology at Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC, and director of the Healing Communities Prisoner Reentry Initiative at the Philadelphia Leadership Foundation HealingCommunitiesUSA.org).