Editor’s Note

I created Painfully Hopeful almost a decade ago, and don’t foresee it going away any time soon. Painfully Hopeful, I hope, has been a constructive voice our wider cultural dialog. I know I’ve appreciated the folks who have been reading for a while.

My posting has been down this year, as I’m spending more and more time pondering before I publish, so I wanted to find a way to increase the content posted here. To that end I’ve invited some folks who also live out a painful hope to be occasional contributors. I’d planned to write introductory posts so folks can see where the new contributors are coming from, but Frank G. Reeder was struck to write something before I could do so!

I’ll be writing a proper introduction in the future. For now, enjoy Frank’s first post here on Painfully Hopeful!

The Post

It’s the day after election day in the United States. Some folks are celebrating while others are licking their wounds. Yet the call on the day after the election is often the same. Let’s commit ourselves to work together. It’s the stuff of good concession speeches as well as declarations of victory. There is an exhortation to humility no matter where one might stand. We will go no where quickly if we do not seek the welfare of all. The Apostle Paul challenges the believers in Rome by saying,

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all ¹.

There is another point to make in this. Sometimes truly evil people are elected to office. It says something about the darkness that lurks in a culture. Earlier in Romans 12:9 the encouragement is, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good…” Let’s be careful in what we brand as evil. And let us not fail to call evil what it is when we experience it. You can identify evil in a number of ways. One of the most glaring is the failure of an evil person a lack of humility by refusing to take responsibility for their part of a downfall. It is identified by diversion and blaming ².

For most people, those good people who won the vote and those good people who gave it their best but lost, it is the day after. Let’s commit to working together. Convictions do not need to be forsaken. Let’s join hands and work for the common good whenever we can.