By Dr. Jannie B. Johnson
Jackson Advocate Guest Writer
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed, degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling…, is worse.
–John Stuart Mill
The wars in the East are challenging the institutions of our society – the justice and equity of our economy, the adequacy of our political system, the wisdom and purposes of our foreign policy, and the strength of our faith and family.
We Americans have enjoyed the prestige of being the superpower. We’ve grown accustomed to giving orders. We could speak to nations and they would go home and try to behave.
September 11, 2001, proved that little nations aren’t behaving like they once did. They have changed; they have a new attitude! They are challenging America; they are fighting back with a vengeance! They are giving us reasons to rethink our foreign policies and rework our national security.
Victor Hugo said that there is NO such thing as a little country/nation. The greatest of a people is no more determined by their number than the greatness of a man is determined by his height.
At this junction, we Americans cannot see the solution. It is hard to see when a national quarrel has left the conference room and gone to the battlefield. Reason and right are swept aside. Emotions deny the judgment of conscience. It is so humbling for us to face the truth about ourselves. Our heads keep getting in the way of our hearts telling us that we need divine help.
Our foreparents acknowledged publicly their need for divine guidance in dealing with human conflicts. We Americans have a new attitude now!
Before Ukraine, we had declared word battles among ourselves at home in and out of our courts. We have been stripping away our fundamental integrity and human dignity. We have outlawed from our public life the source of our morality, our peace, God. So we fight, we the children and adults; we have no solutions and see none coming.
The truth we once sought and cherished is offensive now. The temptation to forget our godly heritage looms large. We feel a need to pray. But…what do we say; how do we start? Maybe we can follow Minister Joe Wright’s lead. He was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate with prayer. (Some legislators walked out in protest.)
He prayed:
“Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good’ but this is exactly what we have done. We lost our spiritual equilibrium…. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
“We have abused power and called it politics. Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who are to lead and direct us…. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Fellow Americans, OUR NEED TO PRAY is greater now than then. My question is have we given God reasons to hear and answer our prayers?
(To believe or not to believe God is our choice not God’s demand. To bless or not to bless is God’s choice not ours to command.)
