Rekindling Hope: The Role of Faith in Turbulent Times

A Meditation on Lent

Charles Dickens’ famous phrase, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, that opened his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, was used to describe the paradoxical dialectic and turbulent nature of the era surrounding the French Revolution. His novel explored the extreme contradictions and incongruities of the time, which was marked both by great optimism and severe despair. We are all creatures of habitat, embedded subjects of our social and cultural settings, which then encodes the lenses through which we see life, and forms, in Jurgen Habermas’ words, our “worldview.” We are habitués of the constructs of our contexts, our sitz im leben. And while the United States in particular is not in a state of violent political revolution right now, my contextual lenses view the meaning of Dickens’ phrase as not entirely anachronistic to the country’s present state of affairs. Edmund Davis, in a March 31, 2025 article published in the online journal, Baptist News Global, gave a judicious and careful summary of the sweeping and radical changes in American domestic and foreign policy that have happened since January 20, 2025, the inauguration of the new president of the United States. In a little more than 70 days since taking office, the Trump administration has revoked anti-discrimination protections, unleashed draconian and targeted immigration crackdowns on brown-skinned people (has anyone seen the same mass deportation of white people?), withdrawal from global agreements that have alienated historic allies, a massive government overhaul that saw thousands of mass firing of thousands of career civil servants that decimated federal government agencies without aforethought, and the elimination of diversity, inclusion, and equity programs of institutions by defunding federal programs related to racial equity and social justice initiatives.

After this article was published, we have seen this administration using its federal funding leverage to attack academia and some law firms in the legal community. The blatant exercise of presidential power in flaunting established laws, traditions, and norms of accountability, have not only revealed a flaw in the the American system of separation of powers that is constitutionally established in the government structure, but also has deeply eroded the people’s trust in the institutions of government which is now perceived as corrupt and authoritarian. The social and political turmoil that has been wrought has created a climate of cynicism and fear across the country. Contemporary America, it appears, has lost her compassion and her nobility.

The particular sphere of my vocation and interest revolve around the faith community, and I firmly believe that the optimism that Dickens refers to on the other side of the phraseology of his dialectic resides in the faithful community. Much has been written about the impact of the radical changes in American politics on the ministry of churches especially for, and towards, immigrants and marginalized populations of society. It is no small thing that part of the challenge is that a dominant and vocal segment of American Christians have audaciously and unambiguously aligned itself to partisan political power, conflating their piety with their ideological bias. The voice of Jesus that they profess to bear has now become incongruous not only to other Christians in the faith, but especially to the many who watch Christians from a distance with growing scorn.

It is the season of Lent, and an opportune time for those of us who profess to follow Jesus, to reflect deeply and honestly on how we have mangled and disfigured his name. And so as one who thinks theologically, and strives to follow Jesus, I find myself during these days of Lent in 2025 asking the question: How can I discern the presence of Jesus in the midst of the roiling sea of antagonisms, lies, bigotry, hate, fear, arrogance, and disconnective energies in which we live? How can I be steadfast in the faith, and to the full human flourishing to which the gospel invites me, when I am caught daily in these powerful rip currents that compete for my allegiance? How do I not lose sight of my north star?

The Book of Sirach 27: 4-7 teaches us a universal truth in matters of discernment:

“When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so a man’s faults is revealed when one speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind. Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested.”

We can more than assume that Jesus, as a Rabbi schooled in the Torah, was aware of this ancient Jewish teaching when he taught his disciples the same principle of discernment: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6: 43-45).”

To remain faithful is difficult, sometimes perilous, and at points will incur persecution. But the way of Jesus is the way of the cross, the way of suffering love. Yet it is on this path that the promise of Jesus lives, and births the fierce hope of the faith that has emboldened many of the faithful, even unto death. He said to his disciples, as he prepared them for his imminent departure from this world: “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered…I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16: 32-33).” Jesus has not taken away suffering from his followers. But he has inaugurated a new reality, that under his lordship evil never triumphs. In fact, he has declared that he has subdued Satan, and seen him fall like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18). Because of its very nature, evil rises up against itself. This is the meaning of his declaration that he has overcome this world. God’s love reigns forever. Tyrants and despots may tarry awhile, but they never endure. In the meanwhile, the faithful is sent into the world and urged to not grow weary in doing what is good and just. Jesus gave the faithful a map for the journey in his Sermon the Mount, especially the Beatitudes in Matthew 5: 3-10, which is the compendium of God’s critique and “No” to the present state of the world.

“I will be with you until the end of the age” was the risen Jesus’ promise to his disciples before his ascension to heaven. This is the optimism of our faith: that not only is Jesus himself interceding for us, but he is also with us. Wherever we are, in whatever space we occupy, and in whatever context we inhabit, let us continue to find strategies for participating in our respective community’s work for those whom Jesus named for special blessing in his Beatitudes. We need to be peacemakers, to stand in solidarity with the weak, the marginalized, and the vulnerable because it is for them, and to them, that Jesus called for a preferential love. James Baldwin once said that “I can’t believe what you say, because I can see what you do.” Like his body, Jesus calls us to be as bread broken for others.

(Featured image by Faris Mohammed in Unsplash)

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