Christian Educators' Journal

This was not always the case

by Meredith Kathryn-Case Gipson Hoogendam

Dear Sojourner,

It might seem strange, getting a letter from your great-grandmother out of the blue like this. I know it’s not your birthday yet, but it will be soon. Before you realize it, you’ll be eighteen and able to vote. I can hardly believe how much the world has changed since you (and your mother and grandmother, for that matter) were born. I know you’ve heard me quote Gloria Steinem (remember her? I’ve told you) a few times-“the political is personal” and all that. You’ve also heard the original, I hope: “the personal is political.” Well, I can’t even begin to tell you how true those statements are, and that’s why I’m writing you.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the year 2008, a few years before your grandma was born. I was living in Canada with your great-grandfather then, and frankly, I was glad to be north of the U.S. border, as we had just gone through eight years of a presidential leadership that left us with little more than a recession and a bloody war in the country of Iraq (which is now part of the United Republic of Saudi Arabia, as you know it). Needless to say, the presidential election of 2008 was one of the most pivotal elections of all time. I know it seems unbelievable now, but at that point in history we had never had an African American (or woman, for that matter) as president. Also likely unbelievable to you was the way we thought about the environment and global warming; we treated the world as if it was going to go on just fine with all our pesticides and coal-powered plants and carbon emissions (this was before the Universal Environmental Treaty of 2020, remember). At that time, the United States was known as a “superpower,” and because of that the world paid close attention to our political situation. Crazy as it seems, this was the first time I watched the election results come in over the Internet (people still owned televisions sets at that time). The world as it was then would be unrecognizable to you now, seventy years later, and many of those changes can be related directly to the results of that election.

****

Since 2008, you have seen a diversity of people in the office of president-African Americans, Latinos and Latinas, the visibly disabled, a blind man, a deaf woman, a transgendered person and even a couple of older Caucasian men. You have witnessed the deconstruction of a superpower and the reconstruction of the environment. You inherited a world in which all nuclear weaponry has been dismantled, and a Universal Peace Accord was reached with the signatures of every single leader of every single nation on Earth. You ride horseback or use GreenFuel, and eat food grown by your parents and your neighbors. Africa, to you, is a continent to emulate in terms of politics, economics and healthcare. You have only heard of AIDS in history books, and the notion of equating one’s worth with one’s religious beliefs is ridiculous and barbaric to you. The date September 11 sticks in your mind because it is your parents’ wedding anniversary. The only connection you have with the “War on Terror” is the movie you watched in American History when your teacher took a sick day. The idea of a little girl being denied access to education because of her sex or of a little boy being forced to fire a machine gun because of his ethnicity is incomprehensible to you. In your world, water is clean, air is pure, and neighbors do not fear neighbors. This was not always the case.

*

Since 2008, you have seen several kinds of people in the office of president, but most of the presidents in your lifetime have been Caucasian men. You have witnessed the deconstruction of one superpower and the construction of another. You inherited a world in which nuclear weapons inhabit the nightmares of children, and a Universal Peace Accord is laughable. You drive a car when you can afford it, you have never flown in an airplane and you have never dirtied your hands in a vegetable garden. Africa, to you, is a continent to pity in terms of politics, economics and healthcare. You have witnessed the ravaging effects of AIDS on your loved ones, and the notion of equating one’s worth with one’s religious beliefs is reflective of the ideology upon which most governments are founded. The date September 11 sticks in your mind because it is your parents’ wedding anniversary and the date on which your nation’s history is divided. The only connections you have with the “War on Terror” are the movie you watched in American History, the censorship of your school and local libraries, the paranoia of your classmates and the myriad types of governmental surveillance that surround you. The idea of a little girl being denied access to education because of her sex or of a little boy being forced to fire a machine gun because of his ethnicity is all too real to you. In your world, water is expensive, air is toxic and neighbors fear neighbors. This was not always the case.

*

Sojourner, I hope you see what I’m getting at. There will assuredly be times when you feel like your vote doesn’t count or your voice isn’t being heard, but those are the very same moments when your opinion matters most. Don’t be fooled: history isn’t a set of biased stories agreed upon by those in power; history is the very thing you are making with the chords of your voice and the movement of your feet. Please forgive me if I sound preachy-that’s something great-grandmothers are allowed to do.

Until next time,

G.G.

your comments

Jeff
Nov 07 2008
12:55 PM

Pilgrim,

Since 2008, you have witnessed us follow in the footsteps of Europe and Canada, as we have become a completely post-Christian secularized and pluralistic society. The election in 2008 was the turning point in which the Christian foundations of our society were formally removed from the public square. We now worship the gods of Demos, Gaia, Multiculturalism, and Tolerance yet are intolerant of anything that has to do with Yahweh’s unchanging Law. Instead of evaluating the content of one’s character, we now look at their “people group”. Value judgments that focused on virtue have been replaced by ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and even physical impairment.

At one time, it was legal for our citizens, and especially our Christian ministers, to call our government leaders to repentance for refusing to legislate in accordance with Yahweh’s eternal principles of right and wrong as He revealed them to us in His Scriptures. I know that it is hard for you to imagine but there was a time when the killing of infants in the womb, homosexual acts, and adultery, was considered immoral. But all of that changed in 2008 when a new coalition in our government structurally and legally finalized what had been occurring in substance within the culture at large. This coalition was not the cause of, but rather a terminal symptom of a cancer that started in the Church and extended to all aspects of society.

But there is hope. While Africa was initially devastated by AIDS in the end of the 20th century, there arose within the Church there, a small but persistent voice that called on the men of the African nations to repent of their adulterous behavior and to live in accordance with what they claimed to believe. The Holy Spirit worked mightily causing both reformation and revival. The Good News spread like a wildfire throughout the continent. Long held tribal conflicts dissolved. Husbands lead their families in faithfulness. Government leaders rejected generations of corruption and formed new constitutions which named Christ as their King. The land was productive again and they grew affluent as they obeyed Jesus and His Word. In the face of a robust Church, Islam rapidly declined. Peace came not due to recognition of the so-called “brotherhood of all men”, but because of submission to King Jesus and His Gospel where there is neither Jew nor Greek. In short, a new Christendom was born.

Now, we hear of missionaries from Africa preaching the Truth boldly and in secret in our country and across Europe. Small fellowships meet not in the government approved buildings of the old mainline denominations, long assimilated by the prevailing pagan culture, but in homes and in the old abandoned Christian schools.

Take heart, Pilgrim, for the Spirit is moving once again.