- Anthony G. Siegrist

Recently our office received a letter via Canada Post from an individual in Nova Scotia. The writer was reluctant to communication via email because big tech companies can monitor digital communication. I respond here in a general way. 

Dear Sibling in Nova Scotia – Thank you for your letter and for your trust in Christ’s church. You asked us: How can I best constructively respond to the escalation of political violence targeting identifiable groups? 

Your question is a timely one. I hope it is one we are all asking. It is tempting, if we are not a part of one of those identifiable groups, to do nothing, to say nothing and to avoid being lumped in with those being targeted. You want to do something different, and I appreciate the nudge your conviction gives the rest of us. After reflecting on your question, I humbly offer the following suggestions.  

Devotional practices are the things that shape our hearts, that counteract the formational machinations of social media and partisan politics.

First, and I acknowledge that this is probably not what you are looking for, it is vitally important in a time like our own that we continue to engage deeply in Christian devotional practices. Prayer, worship, meditation on scripture, and solitude are essential because the political violence of our age comes cloaked in both secular and religious attire. Devotional practices are the things that shape our hearts, that counteract the formational machinations of social media and partisan politics. Mennonite social ethics has, for generations, been an outworking of a steady, even plodding, contemplation of the Incarnation, a yielding to both God and to the world. 

It may be that our role as Christ’s body in this time is to suffer with those who suffer.

Second, it is also important that we remain anchored in our churches. We cannot do much to oppose political violence as individuals. If we wonder where Jesus is at this moment, we would do well to remember that the New Testament often refers to the church as Christ’s body. One of the hymns we sing borrows words from St. Theresa of Avila: “Christ has no body here but ours; no hands, no feet here on earth but ours.” The risk for us is that we take this theological truth to mean that it is our job to bring about God’s kingdom. That would be misguided and potentially the seed of more violence. Yet there is truth in the song’s lines. It may be that our role as Christ’s body in this time is to suffer with those who suffer. We see this in churches within Babylon taking risks to support the vulnerable. 

Our congregations need to be places [where] we learn to contribute to the peaceful solidarity of our communities with gentleness and courage.

Third, it is important for us to engage in communities and organizations that resist political polarization. Here I am not thinking of specifically political or activist groups. I’m thinking of things like soccer teams, tree planting projects, hiking clubs and neighbourhood parties. Our congregations need to be places that don’t self-sort by political ideology, and hopefully in them we learn to contribute to the peaceful solidarity of our communities with gentleness and courage. We can’t do that, however, if our congregations have exchanged the Lordship of Jesus for capture by a political ideology.  

This could be what I Timothy 5:13 means for us today.

Finally, even as we look for concrete ways to support our siblings in Babylon and elsewhere, let’s avoid getting pulled into their politics. Our country is distinct. We have a different approach to cultures, languages and pluralism. Our country occupies a different place on the world stage. It may be that before long our congregations will be asked to shelter a new round of political refugees. For the time being, though, I suggest that we do our best to find the line where our attention to the goings on in other nations is beneficial and avoid stepping over that line into political voyeurism. This could be what I Timothy 5:13 means for us today. If we step over the line into political voyeurism, we both give the beast the attention currency it craves, and we ignore the good things available for us to do here.