A Time to Grieve

Written By Jonathan Krogh

Dear Mourning Masses:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been musing over the somewhat unique position in which I believe we find ourselves politically, both domestically and globally. Since the conclusion of World War II, our narrative has been that democracy is superior to autocracy, capitalism combined with a robust social safety net is superior to communism, and nations would obviously gravitate towards this wealth and opportunity-generating system. This liberal consensus was held from FDR through LBJ, but beginning in the late 1960s, global competition began to challenge its allure. It was easy to agree when the mighty American manufacturing was the only system that could do great things. But as other economies emerged, American dominance in productivity deteriorated, and alternative political ideologies presented themselves equally effective in generating wealth and prosperity. As a result, the American missionary zeal to bring development and its partner democracy to the world has begun to falter.

The subsequent grief experienced by the United States has led to a natural desire to blame. For the last several decades politicians have paraded a whole host of bogeymen—welfare cheats, godless communist sympathizers, the inefficiency of union labor, unfair global trade agreements and, most recently, cultural pluralism—to blame for the loss of American dominance. We are now at the brink of tossing out democracy itself to regain American greatness. We are being told the problem is that our nation has become too diverse, and we should return to the kind of leaders who were in charge back when we were winning—wealthy white males who champion misogyny, homophobia and racism.

What we haven’t grappled with is our underlying grief. No amount of bluster or outright usurpation of power is going to correct for the loss of American dominance. Superiority was gained when the rest of the world was devastated by two world wars. Our continent was unscathed. Yes, America was magnanimous as we could afford to be. We rebuilt economies around the world while simultaneously experiencing unprecedented domestic development. But over time, previous clients grew to become current competitors, and rather than celebrating mutual success we have become resentful. Now even organizations like the UN and NATO are perceived to be part of the problem rather than forums for transformation. We have become a bitter people, hungry to devour scapegoats both abroad and at home. And because our bitterness is rooted in grief, I fear it may become insatiable.

I hesitate to say the obvious, that greatness as defined by the past will not be found again. The past was a unique set of circumstances which cannot be recreated. If we hope to find greatness, we must do so starting with what is, not dream to regenerate what was. I am tempted to say, “get over it,” but that never works. Hope rests in our ability to assure one another that things can be okay even if they’re unfamiliar. As with every loss, healing occurs when we trust those around us, when we lean into mutual grace.

For those of us who are Christians, we can recall that our own tradition was forged in the context of massive loss. The great temple where Jesus taught was a pile of rubble just a few decades later. The councils that defined and upheld religious tradition were martyred or exiled throughout the known world. What unfolded was not a religion of dominance and superiority but a people of service and compassion. They changed the world not by winning, but by loving; and it was that love that got them through things far worse than we will ever know.

We can hunker down and fight our way to the restoration of empire, but history teaches that never works. No, in the face of loss, hope is always nestled in the future; but we will never get to hope until we let go and allow the past to pass on. The power of a great eulogy is its reminder not to cling to memory, but to embrace one another.

Believing we would do well to be about our grief work, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor

Jonathan Krogh
Next

Waging War or Finding Peace