Generational Grace
They will be led forth with blessings and rejoicing; they will enter the palace with gladness. – Psalm 45:15 (adapted)
I dreamt I had an invitation to the White House. I was to have two hours with the President and do all the talking. He would say, “Tell me more.” I would tell him about my father who came from Queens and slurred frequently. He was mentally ill. He thought he was small. He knew little grace. He found value in humiliating others. I once told him that he had nothing to prove to God, that when he entered the palace, God saw nothing but beauty in Donald.
Yes, his name was Donald. He would have been 101 today.
In my dream I would ask the President why he called people names, why he called a female reporter Miss Piggy? Had someone called him names as a child, like they had called my father names? I would ask what his internal voices say to him.
Accountability perdures, even after we understand. As Rebecca Traister recently wrote: “While misogyny is hard to banish so is the resistance to it.”
Too many Donalds of the world, ill and injured, harm others out of their own scarcity of grace and gladness—even with the door to the palace of grace wide open.
One response to the Donalds of the world is to refuse to dish out what they dish out and to rinse the taste for revenge from your mouth. To fight for healing. These come from the heart of God, who doesn’t know how to hate, from Jesus who doesn’t know how to have an enemy, from the Holy Spirit who enters the palace to fly over the generational damage.
Prayer
Dream with us of healing for Donalds everywhere and in our own hearts.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is an interim Pastor at the United Church of Gainesville, Florida, and author, most recently of Remove the Pews—first from your theology, then from your building.