God holds you

I recommend a book of pandemic reflections titled God Holds You. Sarah Scherschligt pastors a diverse-in-every-way church (Peace Lutheran) on the western edge of Alexandria, Virginia. When the world shut down on March 15, 2020, she sent an evening missive to the people she pastors after she put her children to bed.

“This thought came to mind as I cuddled my little one to sleep tonight: God will hold you,” it began.

She continued sending out evening missives for the next 13 months. Our lives, the economy, and our politics were in more-than-the-usual turmoil. But in her gracious reflections, Sarah invited the members of her church - and in this book invites us - to see our tumultuous world through the eyes of her soul as pastor, mother, activist, wife, and neighbor.

You might use her reflections as daily devotions. I read them one after the other, and halfway through the book I realized they had indeed given me a freshly vivid sense of God’s presence in the everyday.

Since I’m an analytical sort of person, I asked myself, “What makes her think God holds us?”

I quickly reviewed the first half of the book, writing down the specific events or thoughts that gave her a sense of God-with-us. I continued taking notes as I finished the book.

Mostly, she sees God’s presence in relationships with family, church members, neighbors, and society. She also sees God in nature, art, children, and inspiring efforts to address big social problems (the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of those months, for example).

Listing these signs of God made me think of something St. Paul wrote, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Sarah has made this way of thinking a habit.

Her reflections are also laced with references to Jesus, Bible stories, and worship services. They encourage her faith that God is with us, hope even in terrible times, and love for everybody. They lead her to be politically active and to teach others to be active on both environmental and poverty issues. This kind of pastoral work is a foundation for a lasting improvement in the politics of poverty.

Sarah uses her book to lead pandemic reflections for groups via zoom or in person. She also has a group reflection guide she is happy to share. Contact her at sarahsuzanne@gmail.com

The photo I'm sending out with this post shows me with Sarah and an activist neighbor, Christy Schwengel. Christy introduced me to Sarah and invited us to her home to discuss Sarah’s memorable book.

A Hopeful Republican Voice

Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican member of the House of Representatives, wants to approve routine and necessary debt-ceiling legislation and then negotiate a bipartisan budget agreement. He understands that politics is the art of the possible, and that politicians often need to compromise to get anything done. On the day before President Biden releases his budget proposal, Bacon's recent interview with Washington Post Live encourages my hopes that Congress may be able to avoid returning to the pattern of 2011-2017 - repeated legislative gridlock and crises in pursuit of massive cuts in poverty-focused programs.

Congress and the President have already allowed pandemic assistance programs to expire, erasing the gains against poverty they achieved in 2020 and 2021. House Republicans seem likely to propose deeper cuts in poverty-focused programs, and extremist House Republicans have already demonstrated that they are willing to obstruct the normal functions of government to get what they want. But things are different now than they were back in 2011.

First, the elections of 2022 were disappointing for the Republican Party, and voters rejected many extreme Republicans. In response, Senate Republicans seem less inclined to confrontation than in the past. Just after last year’s elections, Senator McConnell led Senate Republicans in finalizing negotiations on last year’s appropriations decisions with the Democrats. He opted not to wait until the negotiations would also include the House Republican majority that is now in place.

In contrast, the elections of 2010 were a huge win for the Republican Party and especially for the far-right Tea Party wing of the party. Tea Party members of the House insisted on huge cuts in social spending. The Republican leadership in the House and Senate at the time gave in and made the Tea Party demands and strategy their own. In order to extract concessions, they repeatedly shut the government and also reduced the U.S. government’s credit rating.

Second, although House Republicans are already criticizing the President’s impending budget proposal, they are a long way from developing a budget proposal of their own. As the election for Speaker showed, House Republicans are divided among themselves. Their goals for deficit reduction seem unrealistic, especially given their noisy commitment (during the State of the Union Address) not to reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits. Also, they disagree among themselves about funding for Ukraine. President Biden’s impending budget proposal will reportedly outline a strategy to reduce deficit spending and, at the same time, strengthen Medicare. These goals enjoy broad voter support.

Finally, Don Bacon is certainly not the only Republican who understands that politics is the art of the possible. He is one of 21 Republicans in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and one of 56 members of the Main Street Caucus (conservative, but pragmatic). The Republican chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Glenn Thompson, says he wants to develop the Farm Bill on a bipartisan basis; the Farm Bill is one of the biggest pieces of legislation that is slated to move this year, and it is especially important to the cause of overcoming hunger in the U.S. and worldwide. In the Senate, I have high hopes for the chair and ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Boozman (R-AK), and for the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Boozman and Collins are moderate, compassionate conservatives.

The politics of poverty in the 118th Congress

House Republicans, goaded on by their most extreme members, are likely to push hard this year for deep cuts in poverty-important programs. There's a frightfully good chance that they will disrupt basic functions of government to get their way - risking the United States' credit rating or shutting the government down again. Both these disruptions would do harm to the economy, hurting all of us and especially low-income people.

Christian leaders in the Circle of Protection sent this letter to President Biden and every member of Congress yesterday. The Circle of Protection includes church bodies and ministries from all the families of U.S. Christianity - theologically, politically, and racially diverse. I'm honored to serve as Coordinator. Our letter again urges continued funding for poverty-important programs. We favor reforms to enhance program effectiveness, but don't think our nation is spending to much to provide help and opportunity to hungry and poor people.

As measures to reduce deficit spending are considered, we support tax increases for high-income individuals and corporations. We would rather see Congress cut military spending than social safety-net programs. As our letter explains, this sense of priorities is rooted in the Bible.

The big-money decisions that Congress needs to make may well be debated and delayed until July or August. But as members of Congress are staking out their positions, they should be hearing from people back home about the importance of protecting anti-poverty programs.

Democratic members of Congress need encouragement to resist cuts in poverty-focused programs. Their opposition can't be taken for granted. I was struck that President Biden mentioned the word "poverty" only once in his State of the Union address this year. Nor can we give up on Republicans. A few Republicans are talking about a bipartisan budget and other bipartisan legislation, and constituents need to nudge more Republicans in this direction.

Members of Congress will be in their states and districts in April. Now would be a good time to organize a group of like-minded people and set up an April in-person meeting with one of the people who represent you in Washington.