Pre-Traumatic Stress is an appropriate description of how many Americans are responding to the new year, even before the new president takes office. I admit I am concerned, but I am not stressing out. One never knows what might happen. Something wonderful might come out of all this! One cannot predict the fluctuations in the arc of the moral universe.
It is best to respond in faith. Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
That does not mean we do not prepare for what may come. To help me prepare I have subscribed to Sojourners magazine. I used to receive to this activist Christian magazine during the Reagan years. Now things are getting dangerous again in our nation, so I have resubscribed. It was their issue on Christian Nationalism that brought me back.
The most recent issue (Jan/Feb) has an article entitled “Now that Trump Has Won: 10 Ways to Ground Ourselves for What Comes Next.” Nonviolence trainer Daniel Hunter lists ten things we can do right now. They are worth listing:
1.) Trust Yourself; 2.) Find Others Who You Trust; 3.) Grieve; 4.) Release That Which You Cannot Change; 5.) Find Your Path; 6.) Not Do Obey in Advance; Do not Self-Censure; 7.) Reorient Your Political Map; 8.) Get Real About Power; 9.) Handle Fear, Make Violence Rebound; and 10.) Envision a Positive Future. The article is worth reading in its entirety.
Faith sees the big picture. Antichrists come and go, as the apostle John told us. Evil self-destructs. Autocrats are weaker than they appear. Ego always oversteps and plants the seeds of its own demise. That is what the twentieth century taught me. I trust that the Divine Script is playing out as it must. That is what the Hebrew prophets proclaimed during the darkest times in Israel’s history, and our time does not compare to that darkness.
Faith vaccinates us against Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder. So does hope. So does Love. “Faith, hope, love abide, these three,” says the apostle. It is most important to remember to listen to Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. We must not surrender our hearts to any Caesar. We are citizens of Heaven. Jesus trusted that even his death would work out for good, and he turned out to be correct. I trust that he is right this time as well.
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