I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:10-11:

by Kristy Manion

My campaign-season malaise did not ebb on election day, not that I expected it to. I know I’m in good company. What’s more: I know my malaise as a white person with resources is a feather compared to the bowling balls others are carrying.

Still and all—malaise is there, one ingredient of several in the mirepoix. It gets stirred up when I read another article. It simmers when I watch another news story. It starts to smolder when my friends say they are afraid for their children.

It is quite the soup.

I’m grieved: the statements and actions of our president-elect have emboldened what is worst in us as individuals and as a nation. I lament: the political stage seems merely to have illustrated divisions that exist in these United States. I am disillusioned: the viable candidates for president stand as a word of judgment against us. Really, was there no one competent, just and righteous who could get the nod from a major party?

Maranatha—come, Lord Jesus.

As Christians, we gather for worship today. We gather to own our first allegiance to Christ and to his kingdom, a kingdom we long for with greater urgency today than at other times, perhaps.

We gather to pray—for ourselves and for our leaders, for Christ’s presence to transform us, every one.

We gather to be family in Christ, weary brothers and sisters bringing our needs to the table: Our need for the nourishment of God’s Spirit and his Word. Our need to hear one another. Our need to take up one another’s burdens. Our need to practice deliberate, active love.

Being the family of God is hard. It is holy. It is a witness that just may gain a foothold in our divided world.
May grace be upon us all.

Kristy Manion is a daughter of God seeking to bring him joy day by day. She is married to Josh, the mother of Micah, Isaac, and Amelia, and serves part-time as the minister of discipleship at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.