“They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, or bear children for calamity;*for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.” ~ Isaiah 65: 21-25 NRSV
On February 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared that his presidency on using "bold action and big ideas" in order to transform the very nature of politics. During his first speech before a joint session of Congress as president, Mr. Obama reasserted his commitment to leading the United States out of the economic depression (yes, we said depression!) and his deep desire to revitalize the role of government in people's lives. “While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times… I want every American to know this," President Obama said. "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”
Following the ruinous failure of George W. Bush’s presidency, such a statement by Obama might seem completely unrealistic. It is important to realize that the vision of material and spiritual renewal through positive political action is related to the promise implied in the biblical passage quoted above from the prophet Isaiah. In theological terms, this sort of vision is called eschatology. Based on the Greek word eschaton meaning “last thing”, eschatology is a fancy scholarly word that refers to the concept of the “end times”. The eschatological age is pictured as both present and future, for its essential idea centers around divine coming, especially where such thinking introduces the idea of a resurrection to renewed life both here on earth (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2) as well as the eternal hereafter (I Corinthians 15). In his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s bold proclamation that “I still have a dream that one day justice will roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream” is a more recent example of eschatology. Uttered at the height of the civil rights movement, King’s words challenged the nation to live in accordance to God’s eschatological vision.
In a similar sense, Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party have a great opportunity to overcome the many obstacles facing the United States. Despite two ongoing wars abroad, the economic struggles domestically, threats of disease pandemics like the “Swine Flu”, global climate change, and other troubles currently plaguing the country, the Democrats under Obama’s leadership has inherited a world on the verge of chaos. However, the great difference between the Obama and all his conservative critics is that he refuses to relegate and reduce his vision only to the negativity of what is presently going wrong. The vision of the Obama administration is also seeking to create an agenda for a better tomorrow by providing a vision that is also relevant for possibility of a hopeful future. It is precisely in times like these that we witness the power of faith and the challenge of hope. It is all well and good to believe that everything will be worked out in the afterlife. It is another thing entirely to trust in God’s awesome ability to redeem, heal, and restore us in the midst of our current situation right here and now. Even with the laughable comments by out-of-control conservatives like Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, the FOX News folks, and others who would rather kick such things to the curb by saying that such thinking is crazy and foolhardy. As Limbaugh has open said, he and his fanatical followers want President Obama to fail. But think about this: why would anyone want to listen to their desire to watch the cruel and unjust realities of the past 8 years under conservative Republican politics to continue? Recognizing the desires of such haters to bring down our chances for a brighter future, those of us of who are devoted to loving mercy, we need to only anticipate but also work for the radical change that marked the historic candidacy and election of Obama in the first place.
The promise of a better tomorrow is finally in front of us. With the US Senate’s transformation to a possible filibuster-proof 60 person majority (thanks to Arlen Specter’s switch from Republican to Democrat and Al Franken’s inevitable seating) as well as the recent announcement of Justice David Souter’s impending retirement from the US Supreme Court, President Obama has the ideal chance to begin redefining American politics and society into the “more perfect union” described in the US Constitution. No matter how touchy the debate might seem about issues like the economy, universal health care, criminal justice, education, housing, jobs, civil rights legislation, religious freedom, environmental responsibility, reproductive choice (abortion), marriage equality (same-sex marriage), and countless other concerns in American life might be, the chance that America will be able to awaken to witness a better tomorrow lies in our ability as a nation to at least have the necessary debates about these crucial matters. Now that the hype over Obama’s “first 100 days” is finally settling down, it is exciting to see the future that is already unfolding before us.
Of course, there is nothing altogether reasonable about living the Christian life in keeping with a biblical vision from a secular or worldly perspective. Moreover, the wealthy and powerful people who enjoy all the privileges and benefits of the world remaining just as broken as it is currently do not want to see any sort of improvement take place. Nevertheless, faced with all the problems that confront this nation and the world, promises that are backed up by practical thinking and positive action is what we need now more than ever. The vision of transformation and new life in Christ as represented in the expectation of new heavens and a new earth is nothing but radically audacious. Even as it seems like things are going absolutely crazy, the continually manifestation of hope is visible all around us. Therefore, living a life informed by a deeply Christian faith is nothing short of revolutionary because it involves us bearing witness to the blessings to be found in a world turned upside-down by God’s wondrous power. That is exactly what we are called to do when faced with the promise of a better tomorrow—allowing God to use us in every way imaginable through “bold actions and big ideas” to make this forsaken and forlorn world a new creation in God’s sight. To have such a dream does not have to be considered wishful thinking or foolishness but rather it can stands as a testament of faith and hope in what Almighty God can and will do right now.
Something to Check Out…
Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise by Tavis Smiley with Stephanie Robinson provides real-life examples of how crucial issues—including health care, education, the economy, unequal treatment in the criminal justice, and the environment—manifest themselves in our communities. The book demonstrates the urgent need to hold politicians—as well as ourselves—responsible for the transformations we want to see in Black community and the nation as a whole. We highly recommend this book because with all the issues that confront us as both a people and a nation, the stakes have never been higher and the best hope for the success of America’s recovery is by becoming better informed about both the problems and possible solutions. Much like his earlier book, The Covenant with Black America, the razor-sharp examination of present-day social conditions and their devastating consequences especially for Black America, Smiley’s Accountable is not just a book but also a resource-filled tool with which the community can evaluate the successes or failures of its political leaders and of itself. Ultimately, while offering very hard-hitting insights about the current state of affairs, Accountable also does a remarkable job of offering hope and inspiration for a better future.
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