And Mary* said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
How many others were awake in the night checking the US election results and staring in stunned disbelief? I was so unsettled to discover that Donald Trump had won that I awakened Ruth and we talked about our dismay, particularly as we considered the future for our two sweet grandsons who are one and three years old.
By 6:30 we were in a texting chat with our three adult children and Isaac, father of the boys, expressed similar concerns. All were stunned by the outcome, as are millions of people around the world.
What literally makes me feel ill is that Trump, a sociopath in my estimation, was nudged to victory by evangelical Christians, many of them women. A few weeks ago a Southern Baptist leader thoughtfully observed that the religious right had become what the religious right has long decried. The moral relativism that evangelicalism has warned against was clearly in play as Trump's racist and misogynist views were ignored to uphold suspect Republican values. Will a wall be built between the United States and Mexico? One already exists, if anyone has paid attention. Will abortion rights be dismantled, or the freedom to marry the person of one's choice? Who knows. Will the leadership the United States has demonstrated in combatting climate change be all for naught? God help us all if that is the case.
Isaac included a reference to Luke 1:39-55 as a reminder to live in hope, which I recognized even in my groggy state at the Magnificat, the Song of Mary. It is a declaration of hope in God offered by a vulnerable young peasant woman in first century Palestine who somehow trusts that the world is not as it seems. There was a powerful emperor then, yet she knew in her heart and soul that the child she would bear was the Servant Christ, and in humility hope would prevail.
In our discouragement and disbelief we can believe in something and Someone more.
I, too, am very disappointed in evangelicals in the USA (two of whom are my friends !) who voted Republican (and tried to convince me that the things said about Trump are not true - even though we saw the video footage of him saying the things which shocked the decent among us !)I fear for our future , and I hope they give Trump dummy numbers for the nuclear button ...and keep him on a very tight leash. Any dismantling or repealing of the more inclusive, kinder legislation passed under Obama would make the USA a "nasty nation" in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteI stayed up late watching CNN, and finally turned in shortly before midnight really worried about the close results. I even had dreams that night about the election!
ReplyDeleteSo, it was like rushing out to open Christmas presents when I was a kid - I got up early, checked the news on my phone, and was very disappointed with the Americans.
They have elected a narcissistic sociopath(I agree with you on that) who can say anything he wants and still be POTUS.
We can only shake our heads and hope he doesn't really make a mess of things in the next four years.
I do worry about our economy when he talks about leaving NAFTA etc. When the Americans jump on the trampoline, we're the ones who go flying off it.