I’m progressive. Making progress. At least I hope I am. I hope we all are. I’m convinced we all can.  

In a way, we’re all in the same boat. We all fall short, but we can all make course corrections. As Oscar Wilde said, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” 

I’ve never been comfortable with the Faustian bargain a big portion of the evangelical church made a few years ago regarding our former president. They got what they wanted, but at what cost?  

Ironically, it has made me progress in my faith. James 1:27 says that “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I can focus on that. I wish the people who call themselves Christians could get on the same page, biblically speaking. That would be progress. 

I just heard about a new book called The Spirit of our Politics by Michael Wear, based on the well-respected teachings of Dallas Willard. Here are some of its bullet points. “How as Christians we can reorient our politics for the good of others.” “A different way of talking about politics that is edifying, not stomach turning.” “This approach begins with a simple question: What kind of person would I like to be.” 

Using “the good of others” as a starting point would be progress in our conversations. 

And I’ve never been comfortable with racial divides. It’s estimated that the US will be “minority white” by 2045. Today, nearly 60% of the world is Asian/South Asian. Seems it’s time for terrified white people to get a grip and start celebrating diversity, since God loves diversity and gave us plenty of guidance about it. That would be progress. 

I’m reading a book called The False White Gospel by Jim Wallis. He bases his resistance to misguided religion and politics on six scriptures: 

Luke 10:25-37 about loving God and loving others. 
Genesis 1:26 about God making humankind in his (technically their) image. 
John 8:32 about the truth setting us free. 
Matthew 25:31-46 about the way we should treat the marginalized and vulnerable. 
Matthew 5:9 about being peacemakers. 
And Gal. 3:28 about doing away with polarizing distinctions. 

Leaning into these teachings would be progress. 

If we want to be people of integrity and compassion, we have work to do, but it won’t be easy. Making progress never has been.