Today’s Scripture Reading (January 17, 2018): Galatians 1
I feel sorry for Ivanka Trump (I never thought I
would write that). After Oprah’s rousing speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, the
Trump heiress went to Twitter to support the former talk show host and
unofficial Queen of the United States. Ivanka
tweeted that she had “just saw Oprah’s empowering speech at last night’s Golden
Globes. Let’s all come together, women & men, & say TIMESUP (referring
to the campaign to move toward gender equality and an extension of the backlash
against people, primarily men, who have been
accused of sexual abuse and harassment.) Twitter did not react well to
the comment. Actress Alyssa Milano commented “Great!
You can make a lofty donation to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund that is
available to support your father's accusers.” Others reminded Ivanka that her
father was a sexual predator and that because of her dad she had no right to
comment on Oprah’s speech.
I am not convinced that the backlash
was warranted. I think that Ivanka has a right to both stand up for the end of sexual
inequality, harassment, and abuse while
loving her father and seeing the best in him. And maybe the most important
person to the cause, if a redemption of
Donald Trump is indeed possible, is his
daughter Ivanka. If there is anyone who can show a dad the error of his ways, it is often the daughter. For the
TIMESUP movement to be successful, what is needed is not just the punishment of
those who have harassed and abused in the past, but for the abusers to see
their error in their actions and reform their behavior. This reformation and
redemption of people lies at the heart of
the Christian message. Christianity has never been about sending all of the evildoers to hell; it is about changing destinies and behaviors of those who commit
wrong actions and allowing them to move to the other side of the moral argument.
This was Paul’s story. Once
Paul persecuted the Christian Church. Once
he was pivotal in the punishment and execution of Christian leaders. But
all of that had changed. Now he protected the Christian Church and worked to
preserve it in a way that no one who had known him previously would have believed.
If there was a real-life example of a
change similar to the change that happened in the fictional Ebenezer Scrooge,
it is found in the story of the life of Paul.
If there is one thing that we need to try to remember it
is that we are all “used to be’s.” There is something inside of all of us of
which we are not proud. And the world may want to define us by who we used to
be, rather than judge for our current place in the journey or by who we have
become, but God leaves what is past in our past. All that is concerning to him is
our actions in the eternal now.
So what do we do with the Ivanka Trumps of
this world? Ivanka has the right, just like every other woman, to not be
sexually discriminated against or harassed or abused. And as much as many of us
are frustrated with the actions of Donald, it is not her responsibility to
change her dad. She must love her dad and
through her actions show him what is important to her. And we might be surprised at
how those simple actions might change the Donald’s
behaviors. Or not. But ultimately what happens to Donald Trump is not the
responsibility of Ivanka.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 2
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