America Joins the Human Family

I should start by acknowledging that I wrote this reflection on November 2, a day before election day when the biggest uncertainty of 2020 may or may not get resolved. I have no way of prognosticating the election’s outcome. No one does. But I do know that regardless of how things turn out in the days or weeks or even months after I write these words, 2020 has been the year in which the American people joined the human family, which is to say, this is the year that defeated the idea of American exceptionalism.

Here is what I mean by that: the challenges we have faced—a pandemic, an economic downturn, political instability, a growing awareness of how communities of color suffer disproportionally at the hand of law enforcement and are generally deprived of justice and economic opportunities—all of these are phenomena we would not be surprised to hear about in other countries. We’ve long expected to hear about Malaria and HIV/AIDS plaguing populations in Africa, for example; poverty and political instability are a way of life throughout much of Latin America and in parts of Asia.

I cut my political activist teeth in the 1980’s supporting the work of Amnesty International on behalf of those in other parts of the world who suffered from a lack of justice. I marched in opposition to Apartheid, and now people around the world are demonstrating in solidarity with the American Black Lives Matter movement. No longer can we presume as Americans to be separate from the trials and tribulations that so regularly affect our siblings living elsewhere, for this is the year when we joined the human family, which is God’s family.

And while it would be dishonest to say that I don’t sometimes grieve my lost innocence, my erstwhile sense of confidence that as an American I am somehow exempt from the more challenging aspects of the human condition, I am happy to be stripped of disillusion, and more than that, I take comfort in knowing that humans like me and like you are resilient. We can survive, indeed we can thrive, even in the most difficult times.

We are made in the image of a creating, loving, and wise God, which means creativity, love, and wisdom are all woven into the fabric of our nature, and the same Spirit of Holiness who has imparted these gifts calls us to use them: to be creative ourselves; to love our neighbors, our friends, and even those we count as enemies; and to be wise.

In every corner of the world there is beauty, there is joy, and there are reasons for hope. People fall in love, families and communities come together in times of crisis to lend support. The beauty of creation surrounds us, and in it the Spirit dances on waves and in forests. She sings for joy from mountains and valleys. He is alive in stars and in the rising sun. And in God’s company we can be strong, we can be kind and compassionate, we can heal our divisions, we can be fully human members of God’s family and, as such, we can live together into whatever future the remaining weeks of this extraordinary year have in store for us.

The Rev. Ben Daniel is the pastor of Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California. He is the author of three books: “Thoughtful Christianity (Westminster John Knox, 2015)”, “The Search for Truth About Islam (Westminster John Knox 2018)”, and “Neighbor: Christian Encounters with ‘Illegal’ Immigration (Westminster John Knox, 2010).”