Where do we go from here?

A reflection from Our President, Jan Nelson

Well, we had an election. Some results, especially local ones, may be good news. Many of the results are frightening to those who take Jesus’ life and teachings seriously. Day by day we see the consequences unfolding of the presidential and congressional elections. At times it seems completely overwhelming. Where do we go from here?

So much has already been written by people wiser than me. We must honor our emotions and give ourselves time for the grief and rage. But we cannot stay there forever. It is time to start thinking about what comes next, and we as WMJM need to think about how our movement responds. Here are some of the questions that occur to me as we think about the future.

What part of the work is ours to do? No one person or group can address everything. We will need to discern what we are good at and where to start.

How can we best be community for each other, including people not on our leadership team? We know that strength is in community. It will be more important than ever in the coming months, not just to share our challenges, but to help each other find hope and joy.

How can we encourage the United Methodist Church to be bold for justice? As a large institution, the church will be slow moving and risk averse. But the Church also has a much wider reach than we do, and that is important.

How much risk are we willing to take? The president-elect has talked about silencing and punishing those who oppose him. We need to take these threats seriously.

It is important to remember that we are not the first followers of Jesus to face a government hostile to their values. We have only to look at the life of Jesus and the early church, living under the brutal oppression of the Roman Empire. Yet the apostle Paul reminds the people to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” This is no platitude, but a statement of faith lived in extremely difficult circumstances. If the first Christians could live their faith in a hostile society, we can do it, too.