Earth's proud empires, pass away

Just a small bit of perspective

The Substack people offer suggestions to those of us writing about how to best use the platform. Last week the suggestion that appeared was that we repost this article from October 28, 2023. From two years ago. I ignored it. But as the election draws near, it has kept coming to mind. Hmmm, a nudge of the Holy Spirit? So, it is reposted below.

I love America. And I believe that liberal democracy is the best political arrangement that we humans have been able to develop. It has the greatest respect for human dignity. It is the most realistic about human possibilities and limitations. And yet, I’m a Christian that knows that it is only God who saves us.

So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never

Like earth's proud empires, pass away

I know that part of the country is in a panic about the election. So, I find the fact that “earth's proud empires, pass away” a strange comfort.

And a second lesser comfort came today when I received an email from The Free Press telling me that they will proudly not make an endorsement for President. They noted the outrage when The Los Angeles Times and the The Washington Post decided not to endorse a candidate. “The responses were apoplectic.” They did poll their staff and discovered that people were going to vote in all possible directions.

“We have widely ranging views not just on the candidates but also the stakes of this election. Some think democracy is at stake and are profoundly fearful of Trump without the guardrails of men like H.R. McMaster and Jim Mattis. Others are far more sanguine, making the case that we endured four years of Trump and four years of Biden-Harris, and the republic survived.”

The Free Press is one of the sources I read to help me understand the complexity and broadness of American politics and thought. And when their more conservative writers dare to write, well conservatively, and when the comments swing to the right (which they often do) I get upset. How could they be that mistaken? And then I give thanks for what they have offered. For two reasons. One is that I agree with Bari Weiss, “the truth isn’t something you bring back like a moon rock and put behind glass, but that the best answers you can get under changing circumstances in an ever-shifting world are always subject to revision.” For her it’s being a good journalist. For me it’s part of how you do sound social ethics. And second, because I love how James Keifer came to understand Thomas Becket, “The chief moral that I draw from Thomas's life and death is that when a man seeks to serve God, God graciously accepts that service, even if the man is quite wrong about what it is that God expects of him.”

From October 2023 - Earth's proud empires, pass away

I’ve been gathering material and ideas that might be used in a parish adult formation process on social ethics. The war between Israel and Hamas set me in motion. Part of my own history included training to become a high school history teacher and a significant amount of work in seminary around social ethics. College was a lot of US and world history including US Army history and tactics. Seminary was a good bit around the history of the church under the Nazis and work on a theology of revolution. So, in the weeks ahead I hope to offer several ways to help parishioners engage in conversations about social ethics. I’ll often use the current war as the content but my primary concern is the educational process.

Yesterday I discovered a video on the history of  -- “Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest?” The video doesn't solve anything about the current conflict, but does offer a sense of perspective with the editor’s own views at the very end.

Sister Michelle, OA and I said Evening Prayer last night. It was the Eve of the Feast St Simon & St Jude. Our discussion of the video brought her to sing "The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended." It was a hymn sung by British POWs in Japanese prison camps during WW2. The soldiers of an empire about to fade held by the soldiers of another old empire about to be defeated. 

So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never

Like earth's proud empires, pass away

Thy kingdom stands, and grows forever

'Til all thy creatures own thy sway

Here’s a link to “Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest.”

You might want to return to the hymn and prayer after watching. Here is the hymn sung during Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral Service 2022 in Westminster Abbey.

Brother Robert, OA

On the Feast St Simon & St Jude