To Bind Up The Nation's Wounds

As a child, I had a fascination with Abraham Lincoln and read everything I could about him, including Sandburg's Lincoln. In the 1980's, as an undergraduate in Washington, DC, I often found myself on The Mall, and invariably I'd end up at the Lincoln Memorial. I almost felt, in that hallowed space, as if I was in his presence.

The words of both the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural are inscribed on either side of the room where Lincoln sits. Both remain extraordinarily precise and relevant, I think. Both were spoken into contexts where just the right word was needed, and Lincoln delivered.

Lately I have found myself returning to the wisdom of that Second Inaugural Address, which at one point I knew by heart. It was offered on March 4, 1865, only a little more than five weeks before Lincoln would be assassinated at the age of 56.

I have come to believe that the severity of the crisis in this nation at this moment in our history is second only to that faced during the Civil War. Unfortunately, we had Lincoln to lead us through that former crisis and now the man in the White House is the one who adds fuel to the fire of deep discord one tweet at a time. In the meantime, we seem to lack serious leaders who might help us to find a way forward; from either side of the aisle, quite frankly. Lord, have mercy on us all.

One way or another, however, this crisis will come to an end. I cannot say whether sooner or later. But either the current president will resign or be removed from office before the end of his term. Or he will be defeated in his re-election bid in 2020. Or, he will finish a second term in 2024. But one way or another, this nation will need to come together again. Perhaps Lincoln's words will once again remind us what that work looks like. And perhaps, in anticipation, we can begin that work sooner rather than later.

With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. 

This work calls for all of us to draw on our better angels. I know that I am tempted to demonize those who continue to attend this president's rallies, those who continue to shout "lock her up" and worship the second amendment while ignoring the first. I do not pretend to understand what motivates such people.

What I do know is that the work of reconciliation is always hard. And that the wounds and deep divisions in this nation are very real. And that I'd rather be about binding up those wounds than rubbing salt into them. I do not believe in America First. I believe in the league of nations, and that peace on earth begins with us building peace at home. I do believe that means that the United States has some serious work to do.

May the God of all the nations bless us in this work.