Peter Leithart: “Sing!”
Trump shattered America. The Clintons are history. Bushian adventurism was thrashed. Obamacare is in trouble, trade treaties on the ropes, and immigration reform on the front burner. The commentariat is speechless, the taboos of political correctness transgressed.
The shock is that so much crumbled so easily. Who knew the establishment was as brittle as it was smug?
Trump won with 80 percent of the white evangelical vote, and he won’t forget that. With Mike Pence at his shoulder, President Trump will give Christians four years of freedom to run schools, plant churches, and start orphanages without having to worry about gender-inclusive bathrooms. We should be very grateful for the reprieve from sexual fascism.
On abortion and marriage, 2016 is a setback. For the first time in decades, the GOP offered a candidate whose pro-life convictions are wobbly and whose commitment to traditional marriage is non-existent. Four years from now, Roe and Obergefell will be untouched.
Trump did not call for national repentance. He electrified crowds with identity politics, scapegoating, and bread-and-butter talk about trade, jobs, security.
For a generation, we fooled ourselves into thinking a majority of Americans share our morals. It’s past time to get real.
What to do? Take Solomon’s counsel. In a world where everything solid melts into vapor, “there is nothing better than to eat, drink and be merry.”
Eat and drink at the Lord’s table. Sing Psalms.
Singing puts the election in its proper, subordinate place. When the world is crooked, we call the Judge to straighten it out. Ruled by fools or thugs, we lift the high King on our praises so He will scatter our enemies. Under pressures and threats, we sing to steel ourselves for martyrdom.
At the Lord’s table, we consume the Crucified to share His cross. We proclaim the Lord’s triumphant death to powers and principalities. We feast in defiant joy because our Good Shepherd prepares a table in the midst of enemies.
Eating, drinking, and singing isn’t an Epicurean retreat. It’s not a white flag. It’s the fundamental shape of Christian politics, and always has been.
Peter Leithart is the President of the Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, & Cultural Studies
