Jimmy Beh

Yesterday, January 20^th, 2025, was a day swelling with emotion. In many parts of the world, it was a normal Monday, but here in the United States it was the second inauguration of President Trump juxtaposed to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Two men that could not be more different. 

Trump’s second term brings with it a polarized response that has become the norm of the U.S.’s public and political life. Slightly more than half are over-the-moon excited and the other half are in mourning. One group celebrating their savior’s return to power and the other terrified that our democracy will never be the same. It has become easy in this extremely polarized culture to either grow apathetic or turn public and political life into a ‘winner-take-all” battle. 

As we all anxiously wait to see what will happen in this second term of Trump (which right now is starting with a flurry of rather scary executive orders), it is important for us to remember that the state of disfunction that envelopes us is not simply the result of one unhealthy man. We, as a nation, have forgotten how to see, be, and listen to one another—we have forgotten that we belong to one another.

What we are going to have to do in our country is relearn how to listen and care for all people. The undocumented immigrant and the American born, high school educated trade-worker. The college educated, corporate elite and the farmer. The traditional, large suburban family and the gay urban couple. The religious and the atheist. The elderly and the young. The republican and the democrat.

While each of us may feel that our view is correct and that the ‘other’ is the one that needs to ‘wake up’ to their moral and ethical ineptitude– that very attitude is what continues to divide us. The mental model of I am right, and they are wrong is not how we come together as a nation. We need a larger vision. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that 50 years ago when he said, “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

In Mark’s Gospel from yesterday, Jesus talks about “new wine being poured into fresh wine skins because if new wine is poured into old wine skins they will burst and both will be lost.”

I am sure republicans and democrats over the years would imagine their candidates and their new administrations being the new wine in this parable—Obama and Trump being the most obvious recent examples. But we must remember, Jesus delivered this address to the people not just to the religious and Roman leaders of his time. This was a message for all people to hear and to realize that if they want to do things differently, they must work to create structures and cultures that support that change.

If we are to create new structures, systems, discourse and policies that bring forth a peaceful and thriving nation (you know that thing every political candidate EVER has promised), we must realize it is up to us, the people, to foster a new way of being with each other. Our elected officials reflect who we are as a nation—and that can be a hard realization to accept.

Richard Rohr writes, “We cannot think our way into a new way of living. We must live our way into a new way of thinking.” The social, cultural, and political realities that the majority of us want (security, economic opportunity, religious and cultural freedom, education, healthcare, community, environmental justice, etc..) will be realized as much as we are willing to truly encounter one another with compassion.

So, my hope for these next four years (and beyond) is that we all are courageous enough to not only speak against injustice and stand with the marginalized and oppressed, but that we are willing to get out of our individual comfort zones and respectfully encounter those we find it most difficult to engage with. Truly, the only way we will be able to create new wineskins as a country is if we as the people are willing to live into a new way of being in relationship to one another.

I am aware of how naïve this may sound when it comes to our current cultural dynamics and the seriousness of our problems, but I truly believe that the path forward must be based on prioritizing belonging and respect. Unity does not mean the absence of tension, and true flourishing does not require fierce competition and domination. Therefore, our best path forward is steeped in rediscovering that we belong to one another– let’s start there and try to move forward together.