Now What?

Closing in.

Maybe for the first time since we saddled ourselves with this madman, we may be coming closer to a shared sense of the danger we have flirted with.

Quite apart from the profound political, cultural, economic divisions that turn us from fellows to rivals, our instinct for species survival lurks just beneath the surface of our differences.

As horrific as it was to have the President of the United States, spewing obscene graffiti across the internet, in the holiest season of the Hebrew/Christian year, it may have startled even the most stiff-necked among us to finally gain a clear vision of what we must face.

Maybe especially fitting that the president should seek to use the imagery of the most challenging piece of the Christian story, itself a reprise of the Hebrew solemn story of the exile, in the most vile, offensive manner imaginable.

To have Iranians, our long nemesis, ask us, “What’s happened to you?”, appealing to the story we have told ourselves and the world, shattered the president’s attempts to portray us as guardians of the world’s peace.

Now we can see ourselves as the world does. As the richest, most powerful, and dangerous country. Lacking the constraints such power requires in order not to be abused.

The liberal consensus is no longer intact, designed to keep us from the madness that slaughtered 70-80 million people in WWII. And that seemed two days ago, might be turned loose again, . Largely because our nation, not only has shown we can’t be depended on to use our power responsibly, but also because the rest of the world has taken its place alongside us, as guardians of the world’s peace.

Hard as it may be for us to see ourselves as simply one nation among many, the recent precipitous fright has made us keenly aware of what our power has obscured.

The Hebrew story tells of the return of divine promise after a long exile. The Christian story is of unexpected new life bursting forth from horrific death.

It’s too soon for us to even imagine what may emerge from the exile into which we have been led. But if the story every religious tradition tells, plays out again, of the worst we visit on ourselves, yielding to life we couldn’t have imagined, our grandchildren will marvel at how hard we tried to defy the human longing for peace, among people of every stripe.

A hymn in our hymnal for this season, begins, “Welcome happy morning, age to age shall say.”

Our longings for that happy morning may have been awakened by our close brush with our suicidal impulse.

May the lion at last lie down with the lamb, to welcome that happy morning.