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Ik heb veel empathie voor de Israëlieten de laatste tijd. Ze komen uit Egypte, voelen zich energiek en opgewonden en opgetogen en doodsbang. Ze zitten op adrenaline na het racen over de Rode Zee, ze voelen zich triomfantelijk nadat ze zien hoe hun vijand onder de golven wordt geveegd. En dan komen ze in de woestijn, en kijken naar Mozes, naar hun onbevreesde leider, degene die een directe lijn heeft naar Yahweh, degene die dit wonderbaarlijke ding heeft beheerd, en zij zeggen: „Oké man! Wat is het volgende? Wat is het plan? En Mozes kijkt naar hen. En haalt op. En de mensen... vinden dat niet leuk. We weten allemaal dat we de Israëlieten moeten beoordelen in deze situatie. O gij van weinig geloof! Maar ik moet je zeggen, ik heb medelijden met ze. Plannen zijn mooi. Ik wil graag dat mijn leiders een plan hebben. In het bijzonder zou ik op dit moment graag zien dat de leiders een soort plan hebben voor wanneer en hoe de grens heropent. Voor zover ik weet, bestaat zoiets niet. En ik weet niet zeker waarom. Het lijkt me dat een comité van mensen, ergens, zou kunnen gaan zitten om de basis te bepalen die we moeten halen voor fase één van heropening, en dan fase twee, en ze kunnen uitzoeken hoe die fasen eruit zouden zien, en dan kunnen ze ons vertellen wat dat plan is. Maar misschien is dit in feite best moeilijk, want vanaf nu bestaat zoiets niet. Dus degenen onder ons die onze familie al meer dan een jaar niet hebben gezien, die al meer dan een jaar niet thuis zijn geweest, die onze dierbaren al meer dan een jaar niet meer hebben vastgehouden, kunnen niets anders doen dan zitten en zich afvragen wanneer we dat zouden kunnen doen. En elke keer dat de grenssluiting zich uitstrekt op de 21e van elke maand, word ik een beetje verdrietiger en veel meer gefrustreerd. Ik heb een plan nodig. Ik moet weten dat we ergens naartoe werken. Nu — ik realiseer me dat gouverneurs en premiers en presidenten en premiers hun handen behoorlijk vol hebben met wat er gebeurt in hun eigen achtertuin, en ik zeuren over de grens is misschien een beetje egoïstisch gezien de staat van Covide zaken in beide Ontario en Michigan. Onze leiders proberen branden te blussen en crises van enorme omvang aan te pakken. Het is een baan waar ik niet jaloers op ben, en ongeacht mijn frustraties over hoe een deel ervan is afgehandeld, hebben de mensen die ons hier doorheen hebben geleid mijn diepe dank en respect. Maar ik vraag me af of — zelfs tijdens het reageren op de crises — een deel van wat leiders nu moeten doen is vooruit kijken. En een visioen uitwerpen. En spreken in een taal van hoop. Alles in de hoop inkaderen. Het voelt alsof het altijd andersom is geweest. „De vaccins lijken effectief te zijn! Maar we weten nog steeds niet of gevaccineerde mensen het virus kunnen overbrengen.” „Miljoenen mensen hebben goed gereageerd op J en J! Maar zes mensen hebben bloedstolsels, dus we pauzeren het. Ik snap het. We willen de kant van voorzichtigheid vergissen. Er zijn veel onbekenden en we moeten verstandig en voorzichtig zijn. Niemand wil het publiek in een vals gevoel van veiligheid en gebrek lokken. We hebben bewezen dat we het niet goed doen in het volgen van regels, zelfs als we dingen serieus nemen. Maar ik vraag me af of het omdraaien van het verhaal — als spreken in hoop, en meer tijd besteden aan het creëren van een visie voor de toekomst — ons in feite meer zou motiveren. Als we meer bereid zouden zijn om te stoppen als we tenminste wisten waar we naartoe werkten, als we doelen hadden, als we een plan hadden. Zouden we ons zorgen maken over hoeveel mensen het vaccin niet krijgen als het verhaal rond het vaccin veel feestelijker en hoopvoller was geweest dan het is geweest? Als het verhaal was meer „Kijk hoe geweldig dit is” en minder „Hier is alles wat fout zou kunnen gaan”? En dat doet me afvragen... besteden we vaak te veel tijd aan het focussen op wat er fout kan en kan gaan, en niet genoeg tijd om hoopvolle visioenen voor de toekomst te creëren? En belemmert dat ons vermogen om samen te werken om verandering tot stand te brengen? Zouden we misschien meer tractie krijgen van meer mensen als onze gesprekken over uitdagende en controversiële kwesties zouden worden omkaderd door meer hoop en minder angst, meer visie en minder angst, meer voorwaartse impuls en minder huidige schuld? Er moet ruimte zijn voor woede en treuren en eerlijkheid. Maar is dat te vaak waar het verhaal eindigt? Ik ben benieuwd wat je denkt. Het valt me op dat in de kerk, waar het ongelooflijk gemakkelijk zou zijn om ons te concentreren op het slechte, het lelijke en de zondige, in plaats daarvan worden we geroepen om alles wat we doen te kaderen door een toekomstvisie, door een eschatologische verbeelding, door hoop. „Dit is wat er komt,” zegt Jezus en Paulus en Johannes. „Dus hoe ga je nu leven?” In het seminarie leerden we altijd preken te beëindigen op een gratie noot, om altijd te eindigen met hoop. Enerzijds omdat die hoop de waarheid is. Maar ik denk ook omdat mensen beter reageren op hoop dan op angst of schuldgevoel. Hoop zal altijd de betere motivator zijn. Ik kan nu wel wat hoop gebruiken. Over een heleboel dingen. Ik kan wel een plan gebruiken.

Laura de Jong

Laura de Jong is a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church. After seminary she served as the pastor of Second CRC in Grand Haven, Michigan, before moving back to her native Southern Ontario where she is currently serving as Interim Pastor of Preaching and Pastoral Care at Community CRC in Kitchener. 

16 Comments

  • Joan Bouwma says:

    How I agreed with you! I always do better with a plan as it gives me something positive to think about, to do, to build on. A plan gives me a sense of control when everything around me seems out of control. A plan gets me through most days. New of the good that is happening in our churches, in our community, in our country, and in the world usually takes a back seat to the stories of violence, chaos, and dysfunction. But God is at work in all of us and we need to recognize and celebrate how he is working out his plan to bring his kingdom to this earth. He has a plan.

  • mstair says:

    Grateful for your reminder of folks yearning for home and family …
    I will offer prayer for resolution.

    Your thoughts brought up this realization … our Government “by the people” currently has nearly half the “government” (45%) with no vaccine and no plans to get one …
    Their plan?

    Resolve nothing, wait for the vindication that it led to damaged DNA, and then celebrate their rightness?
    Watch the other robotic 1/2 half of the country blindly succumb to the compromise of liberty and then delight in their own asymptomatic infection?
    Quietly acquiesce to eventual world-wide realization that – like cancer, there are some diseases that never give way to herd immunity?

    It seems Our Lord has another way …

    “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Phillipians 2)

  • John vanStaalduinen says:

    Since this is a political opinion piece, my comment is: how is the Biden Church working out compared to the Trump Church?

    • Laura de Jong says:

      John,
      This is a political piece only inasmuch as I’m wondering what the role of any political leader is (or any kind of leader for that matter). Nothing is pointed at one specific person. Nor am I trying to conflate politics with the church…simply querying if the same “hope framework” that exists in the church could or should carry over into our political conversations, not because our ultimate hope rests in politics, but because hope generally prompts better responses from people than fear.

    • George Vink says:

      John, if, and it’s always an if, if I’m reading your comment correctly, it’s not helpful!

      • John vanStaalduinen says:

        I think you read it correctly, the Biden Church is failing miserable and spreading doom and gloom news Where as the Trump Church was always trying to spread optimistic news. By the way, I learned there was a Trump Church right here on this ‘reformed’ journal blog, very informative.

  • Rodney Haveman says:

    Laura,
    I appreciate this because I am always despereate for a plan, but one thing I’ve learned about myself is I want that plan because it gives me a false sense of control. If we have a plan, then we can control what happens and where we’re going, but what if we’re not in control? What if control is an illusion?
    The second thing I’ve realized is people desire truth over a plan. We can handle what’s happening if you tell us what you know at this time, what you don’t, and how much it could change in the future. In other words, you’re working on it, but you can’t guarantee anything because you’re not in control.
    I also think that this truth requires a consistent integrity. You tell the truth over and over and over again, because when it counts, when people need to trust you with their lives, they will because you’ve been honest with them as much as we can expect or hope.
    Finally, you are 100% right, hope is more powerful than fear or guilt, but hope cannot be a wish or a dream. It must be real, honest, and full of integrity. Only then can hope drive us to a future that we can believe in.
    Thanks

    • Laura de Jong says:

      Thanks Rodney. I’ve been wondering along those same lines – how do we speak in hope without resorting to false optimism. But to your point about truth-telling, what strikes me about the pandemic/vaccine narrative is that there are two ways to tell falsehoods. On the one hand, the seriousness of the pandemic could be and was gravely downplayed. But I think the effectiveness of the vaccine, and the hope that that gives, has been downplayed as well. We’ve tended to focus on the negative side effects or all the unknowns, even as there is overwhelming data that tells a story of incredible success. So how do we measure the truth of the unknown against the truth of the known? Or balance caution with hope?

      • Rodney Haveman says:

        Thanks Laura,
        I agree. In the beginning we (larger culture) undersold the severity of the virus (even as those who were experts told us how severe it could be) and now we undersell the achievement of the vaccine (again, even as the experts tell us how marvelous it is). I wonder why that is. It seems that the first action comes from wishful thinking, maybe from all of us … It won’t come here. It won’t be too long. etc. And then we spent so much time trying to make folks see how serious it was/is, we never turned to the good news or hope that is available to us now with simple action in getting a vaccine. The media doesn’t help (if it bleeds it leads).
        I wonder if we sometimes spend so much time trying to emphasize the seriousness of sin in our church that we struggle to turn to the good news of hope, eschatology, etc.

  • George Vink says:

    Laura,
    As someone who shares particularly the need to have a more open Canadian border, we’ve gone ahead and made plans for a late June “crossing no matter what…..” It gives us a sense of planning, expectation, hope…………even if then it’ll get dashed or delayed. Thanks for your thoughts and felt though that last night’s address to congress injected some hope if we’d get beyond whatever political blindnesses adhering to our observations.

  • RLG says:

    Thanks, Laura, for sharing your hope and desire for a plan. I agree that focusing on the negative is often a downer, although often necessary. But let’s lean toward the positive. As to a plan, we certainly are not at a loss, for a plan. As we saw last night our president has a great plan that the rich will pay for. Let’s ask them. As to the church’s eschatological plans, we have an abundance of them. There’s the a-mill plan, the post mil plan, the historic pre mil plan, the dispensational pre mil plan, the pan mil plan. Just pick one and be happy. It’s too bad the church has a hard time agreeing to the same plan and hope. Maybe that’s why people outside of the church sees the church as such a negative force in our society. What a conundrum for the church.

  • JK says:

    Laura for your thoughts and questions,
    As I look to this, I see 2 things.
    – in the Church, we understand grace, salvation, and look expectantly to perfection in heaven while looking and experiencing God sightings and his presence on this side of eternity. Ending worship in a moment of grace and hope is the best thing we can do to reset, gain strength, and bolster ourselves to the onslaught we will experience as we walk out the doors. Thank you for continuing to do this every week! Yes, this is where our attention and efforts need to stay focused
    – the press and much of our political leadership understand that in the (sinful) world, blood and gore sells. It sells media, it sells fear, and it sells leadership crafting more ways to keep or assume more control, and it sells short term memory via manipulating the emotions and cranking up the drama. For the press, it sells the chaos, and for the political world, too often it sells a replacement savior. They often are their own worst enemies, but they both understand the control aspect and that they need need each other. Our political leaders may have good intentions and will try to sell some optimism, but the reality is the plan is so lofty, we begin to be skeptical from the start and easily dismiss or forget the priorities laid out.

    In short, it is a power struggle – within ourselves and within our institutions – but it isn’t really about us.

    I realize that this may not be super helpful on the surface, but I have found that I too was exasperated until I began to understand it for what it is and not put added credence into it. My education was in Political Science and Economics. I used to get super charged about the theory, and the rhetoric. It took God rocking my world to get me to surrender and let it all go. (One of my daughters went 2 rounds with cancer before 12 years old. She grown and married now – in good health, but the lessons learned as a Dad haven’t dimmed.)

    I don’t have a plan for you specifically. But if helpful, this has become my plan. As I age, it has become more about observation and letting go. I find that as participate in what God has called me to and watch, I marvel more at God’s grace in my life and also the Devil’s desperate battle plans. The war being waged in front of us and in us, is truly epic and so far beyond us! It is most easily seen in our press, politics and sadly – too often in our churches. To keep from being consumed by these institutions, I find I must focus more on gratitude for what is immediately in front of me, followed immediately by finding more ways to show dignity to those around me. This has not been easy.
    Don’t get me wrong, I still have ideals and preferred outcomes. I am not pessimistic, throwing in the towel or slowing my political involvement. But for inner peace, I have found that I can look only to the evidence of God transforming me, his work with his Church and people, and focus less on our institutions – for none satisfy. It is a matter of letting it go and watching God work. I may not always get it at the time, but I am willing to let it go, and thus, in time be good with it.

  • Gerrit Van Dyke says:

    I am bothered by fact that there so many people who will not get vaccinated for various reasons including that they think the whole thing is a hoax. How can a government plan when dealing with irrational behavior. Both presidents worked to get us all vaccinated but somehow haven’t reached a lot of people on the necessity of that. The wrench in the works is that every new case of CoVid-19 is another chance for a mutation that is immune to the vaccine. The CDC does not want that to happen so we need to start all over.

  • Paul DeVries says:

    Thanks Laura, great article. I particularly like the lines, “And Moses looks at them. And shrugs. And the people don’t like that.” I feel like I do a lot of shrugging these days. If God had a plan for Moses and his ancient people, I guess he must have a plan for me and the church today too.

    I am going to share portions of your article with my Council tonight.

    Thanks.

    Paul DeVries

    BTW, when you finally get a plan, please share it. To quote a wise woman, “I could use a plan.”

  • Daniel Meeter says:

    Laura, I don’t know what to think about this post. On the one hand, Biden has been attempting to present a vision, a plan, and hope. And many people are responding. I may add that people responded to Trump because he too presented a vision and hope, (of a sort I did not like) though only the rudiments of a plan. I think Hillary Clinton failed to present any of them, and I don’t expect any from Justin Trudeau. But my church experience has made me very wary of “visionary leaders”. They have done my denomination very little good. Maybe it was very good that Moses had no plan. (By the way, let me recommend Zora Neale Hurston’s flawed but excellent book, Moses Man of the Mountain.)

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