In my update last week, I noted the moral contradiction of a Congress that can find money for more weapons to fight Russians in Ukraine but will still not invest in poor and low-income people here at home. Some people have misconstrued my words as an endorsement of continued military escalation in Ukraine. I want to be clear: nothing could be further from the truth. We need to do everything possible to get negotiated peace, not the death of more people. We also have to do even more on the front end, before war ever starts. All this death, killing one another, and blowing up cities will lead the human race to its own demise.
I’ve stood for 30 years with organizations that challenge the militarism of our war economy. I have had this position as a pastor in a military town, and members of my church who serve in the military have thanked me for my deep commitment to challenging all this war and the influence of the war economy in our world. The Poor People’s Campaign names the war economy as one of the interlocking injustices we must confront in order to have a Third Reconstruction. We must be determined to continue to work together toward a negotiation of peace in Ukraine and an end to policy violence here at home. Every day I pray and sing this hymn, and I quoted it to the nation when I was asked to deliver the inaugural sermon:
God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient church’s story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.
Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us,
Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways.
From the fears that long have bound us,
Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days,
For the living of these days.
Cure Thy children’s warring madness,
Bend our pride to Thy control.
Shame our wanton selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.
Set our feet on lofty places,
Gird our lives that they may be,
Armored with all Christ-like graces,
In the fight to set men free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
That we fail not man nor Thee,
That we fail not man nor Thee.
Save us from weak resignation,
To the evils we deplore.
Let the search for Thy salvation,
Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Serving Thee whom we adore,
Serving Thee whom we adore.
