Month: September 2025

Country Parson is going to take a few weeks off. My wife and I will be on a relatively small cruise ship, sailing up the inland passage to Alaska, down the Aleutian Island chain, and eventually ending in Tokyo. The journey will take about twenty-five days.

A few people have wondered how a mostly blind man can enjoy a trip that involves so much “seeing” of sights and navigating unfamiliar places.

Like most blind people, I am not totally blind. I still have visual perception. I’m aware of objects and movement, and I’m usually able to place them in context and give them meaning. That means I can appreciate vistas of mountains, valleys, and oceans, even if I can’t see fine details. My wife provides the color commentary—telling me about animals, glaciers, and distinctive features. The same is true for museums and historical sites. Many docents are generous enough to let me get close to objects, sometimes even allowing me to touch artifacts.

Another fascinating thing is the power of the brain to construct images. I lost most of my sight about four years ago, after a lifetime of storing up detailed visual memories. My brain now takes what limited input it can still receive and combines it with my wife’s descriptions to create fairly vivid mental pictures. I suspect they are often quite accurate. When I think back on places we’ve visited, I believe I can actually see them in my memory.

Getting around on the ship is not difficult. Once I’ve mapped the layout in my head, I usually know exactly where I am. The only real challenge comes when too many people are moving in too many directions at once. Extremely crowded places can feel chaotic, the patterns of motion hard to interpret. That’s when I rely on my wife’s elbow in one hand and my white cane in the other, trusting her not to steer us into disaster. So far, so good.

America is told it must celebrate only its “exceptionalism.” At least, that’s the line from the current regime. In their version, exceptionalism admits to nothing but a glorious past and an even more glorious future. The model is ancient: kings who claimed to never have experienced defeat boasted of their triumphs in stone memorials, proclaiming empires eternal. Their names are no longer remembered except by scholars and history buffs. It was all vanity, a chasing after the wind.

America’s history is exceptional for a very different reason. It is rooted in principles of freedom, equality, and representative democracy. Against tremendous challenges, those principles have endured. They have inspired a slow, uneven, but relentless march toward realization for all people, regardless of station or circumstance. To erase that history and replace it with a legendary fairytale would be a betrayal—a disservice to the nation and to all it has endured.

Nowhere is this tension clearer than Virginia’s  Historic Triangle. It is a living museum of the American story. It begins with the land’s first peoples, their cultures, their suffering, their resilience, and their contributions to the country that followed. It includes the waves of British immigrants who sought a better life, taking the land that lay before them by conquest. It includes the importation of African slaves, whose labor enriched some while condemning others to the status of mere property.

We often tell this story only in terms of wars—Revolutionary, 1812, Civil, and two World Wars—that shaped the character of the region. But the truth runs deeper. Here the seeds of human rights were planted. At first they were reserved for free white men. But the ground was nourished in sweat and blood, and the seeds took root. Over time, they grew into rights that stretch toward all people. It is a story of struggle to be honored not hidden.

That fuller, more honest story—told without embarrassment—is the real treasure of the Historic Triangle. It has taken centuries, and only now is it bearing its ripe fruit. To strip away its authenticity, to reduce it to a mythical tale of what never was, would not honor America. It would humiliate it.

The men and women who bear the authority for keeping this living museum alive, dedicated to learning evermore, conserving its artifacts, and telling its never ending story are likely to be pressured into retreat. They should not be less standing on their own. The entire community must come to their defense with courage and singleness of mind.

The Democrats, the Midterms, and the Future of American Politics

Despite Trump’s best efforts, there will be another presidential election—and he will not be one of the candidates. J.D. Vance knows that and he is doing everything he can to be the only Republican contender seriously considered. Others will emerge determined to beat him. Much depends on whether the MAGA movement can survive the crumbling incompetence of the Dear Leader’s administration and the destruction it has unleashed on American society, the economy, and democracy.

The Democratic Question

What about the other side of the aisle? The magic eight ball says, “Ask again later.” That may be about as accurate as the most advanced generative artificial intelligence. Still, I have some thoughts.

Pete Buttigieg has been the most articulate representative of hope for Democrats. He has been clear that opposing Trump and Project 2025 is not enough. Democrats must focus on what they stand for in terms that speak directly to the fundamentals of the cost of living for ordinary people: job growth, wages, housing, education, healthcare, childcare, elder care, and every other expense that affects daily life. Only after those issues are made clear to the voting public can Democrats turn attention to other essential matters such as social justice, civil rights, and international affairs.

This may sting some liberals who have devoted everything to those causes, but if Democrats want to win big elections, they must lead with the issues that touch the lives of ordinary people. And they should be reminded that “ordinary people” include the very communities whose civil rights and social justice they have long championed.

I don’t think Buttigieg could win a presidential election, but he should be a candidate, because his presence will force others to clear a higher bar. My preference would be to see him in a senior administrative post such as Secretary of State. We have lost so much ground in the community of nations and it will take someone of his capabilities to rebuild trust and leadership.

Other Promising Leaders

Another of my favorites is Katie Porter. She is currently a candidate in the California gubernatorial primaries. Should she win and prove her executive competence, she might be an excellent presidential candidate later on. Otherwise, I would love to see her talents put to use in the executive branch. She would be terrific at the Office of Management and Budget—what a treat it would be to see her whiteboard in action. Like Buttigieg, her candidacy in the primaries would raise the standard for everyone else.

Who else? Three governors stand out: Gavin Newsom, J.B. Pritzker, and Tim Walz. For now, I would hold out for Pritzker. Others in the House or Senate may emerge but no single name leaps to mind at this moment.

The Midterms Will Matter

Next year’s midterm elections could change everything.  A Democrat House majority would dramatically shift the political climate, strengthening the hand of a Democrat minority in the Senate. Should Democrats somehow win both chambers, even the idea of a third impeachment with a conviction, however unlikely, becomes imaginable.

The midterms will also bring new Democratic hopefuls into the presidential race. To political pundits that may look like disunity. To me it looks like creative fertility—many ideas searching for ways to form molecules of cooperation for the common good. Unity should never mean uniformity; true vitality comes from diversity of thought meeting new challenges.

The Need for Balance

I hope Democrats develop enough discipline to win both the midterms and the next presidential election. It may be the only way to save our American way of life. Oddly enough, I want even more for a new conservative party to arise. Every democracy needs the flexible balance of liberals pressing forward and conservatives restraining exuberance. They must understand and trust each other as the loyal opposition.

There is a long road ahead in rebuilding a responsible conservative party but our future as a prosperous democracy depends on it.

“How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire… With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”
—James 3:5–10

The church is called to be a prophetic voice, proclaiming boldly the good news of God in Christ Jesus. The kingdom of God is present, at least in some measure, whenever healing, reconciliation, and the way of fullness of life are opened to all who will receive them.

That prophetic voice must speak in two directions. First, it speaks to every person willing to listen, offering the holy gifts of healing, wholeness, and the hope of newness in a more abundant life. Second, it speaks to nations and societies on behalf of the poor, the marginalized, and the persecuted, and for godly standards of social and economic justice—standards made crystal clear by the prophets and sealed by the way Jesus demonstrated how to live them in ordinary life.

The second direction—the bold word to nations—often meets resistance. It is easily dismissed as naïve, unrealistic, or out of touch with the “realities” of national life. But such dismissal ignores how concrete these godly standards truly are. The real objection is that they challenge the human drive for power, status, and the preservation of privilege at others’ expense. Put another way: “It sounds good in theory, but I will not let it interfere with my pursuit of power and wealth.”

The excuse that “we must live in the world as it is, not as we wish it to be” forgets that Jesus lived and ministered in exactly such a world—and persistently showed what the kingdom of God looks like within it. So did his disciples and apostles, leaving us a model of what the prophetic church is meant to be. Across the centuries, prophetic voices have confronted the church, kings, and peoples when they strayed—recalling the church to justice in an unjust world, holding rulers to account, and reminding all people that there is a better way to live together for mutual good and true prosperity.

We need that prophetic voice now—for the repentance of this nation, which so often loses its way, and for the hope of a better future for all, especially the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. The temptation is to play it safe, to avoid rocking the boat for fear of offending donors or threatening institutional stability. That temptation is strongest in this season of fundraising, when protecting the church’s comfort can overshadow proclaiming the gospel.

But it is time to risk it all—not with hellfire and brimstone, but with firm, bold, loving words that call people and nations to repentance and a new way of life. Speaking truth in love, and truth to power, is the church’s calling. To do less is to betray our trust in Jesus Christ.