Well, is there anxiety in this town, especially as the machinery of government shifts gears? I\u2019ll warrant that there will continue to be a lot of anxiety until the new administration settles in, at least several months from now. Who\u2019s going to sit in which seat at the table? Who\u2019s going to be \u201d\u201c or feel \u201d\u201c excluded? What last-minute actions will the outgoing administration make?<\/p>\n
Perhaps the first role of religion in such times is to be a messenger, like one of those biblical angels, who starts out by saying, \u201cfear not.\u201d\u009d Don\u2019t be afraid; this whole thing is a lot bigger than you are. Yes, change is coming, and it will drive some people crazy, and at the same time not go far enough for others. In more secular language, we might say, \u201cdon\u2019t sweat the small stuff.\u201d\u009d And more of it is small stuff than you might expect. At the same time, the religious voice will remind you that how you deal with the small stuff does not affect you alone \u201d\u201c your actions may have consequences beyond your wildest imagining.<\/p>\n
That brief introduction might be a helpful framework for what I\u2019m going to assert is the proper role of religion in the public square: diagnosis, linked with both challenge and encouragement. Walter Brueggemann calls it \u201cprophetic critique and energizing.\u201d\u009d It grows out of a particular world view, a weltanschauung if you will, that has an idea or ideal of what the world is supposed to look like. That world view is rooted in divine revelation \u201d\u201c both in a scriptural tradition and in later encounters with the divine. The prophetic role is to point out the discrepancy between that sacred vision and what the world around us actually looks like, and then to go on to challenge the status quo and encourage movement toward that dream.<\/p>\n