What have we become?

It is January of 2026 and everywhere across the country the excitement is building up as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. I know that we will be celebrating our great nation, singing our praises, and commenting on the idea of the shining city on the hill, the great beacon of democracy to the world.  

At this moment, the hypocrisy is staggering to me. There are so many contradictions happening that somedays my brain has trouble processing what I hear and see.  

In the last few weeks alone, I have heard our president encourage the protestors in Iran and he has promised to protect them. At the same time, protestors in this country are murdered for standing up for their neighbors. National Guard troops and federal agents are sent into cities and even going door to door looking for people. We heard the president campaign on not getting involved in foreign countries and then watched the kidnapping of a leader of another country and heard the threats to our allies that we might just take over Greenland.  

We have gone from being the leader of the free world to a place that visitors and tourists are afraid to come to. We have been pitted against one another, divided even further into our little camps. We have forgotten how to work with others and have abandoned our allies.  

This past summer I dedicated some time to reading and rereading books that are often on banned-books lists.  (If you want to read some, they are in the church library, help yourself.)  I feel like I am living in George Orwell’s dystopic novel 1984. It’s a bit terrifying to be perfectly honest. The parallels are incredibly accurate. Don’t believe what you see, newspeak is alternative facts, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and the rewriting of history. 

Everything we have learned about our faith, about being disciples of Jesus, has been twisted. We are told that Christianity is under attack – it’s not. What is under attack is following Jesus. What is under attack is the biblical mandate to love your neighbor, welcome the stranger, treat the alien in your land as you would your family.  

I don’t believe any of this is what the Founders had in mind 250 years ago. I wonder how we will address this hypocrisy as we begin to celebrate and pat ourselves on the back.  

And so, I ask – What Have We Become? Two plus two does not equal five! 

Peace,  

Pastor Dave