Who Leads Us Now

I am attending the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference as an ambassador from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. What I am blogging about really has nothing to do with being here except that while here I heard about two more companies in the good old USA taking a lead in doing what is just and right. Amazon's employees have demanded their company stop doing business with the US's Immigration and Custom Enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security. Netflix has fired their Chief Communications Officer, Jonathan Friedland, for using racist language in a meeting. These are just two more examples of how corporate America is doing things that witness to a better world and making sure that justice is spoken and lived out in our society.

Normally I don't have many good things to say about the Fortune 500 but lately, in the face of so much hate, insensitive, racism, sexism, etc. it seems that corporate America is leading us in ways that it has not in recent memory. I know there are numerous examples of companies that aren't doing these things but when the government isn't able or willing to lead it seems some in corporate America will. I am not naive, I know that most every company does what it does with an eye to the bottom line and to the optics of the situation. Still, they are leading us.

In the present climate they are reading the writing on the wall and know which side they want to be on in order to be successful in the future and that writing is that inclusion, acceptance, empowerment and basic humane treatment of others are what is wanted and needed. In a time when we are hearing a lot about "zero tolerance" it seems that some in corporate America are taking it to heart when sexism, racism, and unjust treatment of the poor and disenfranchised reaches a point that can no longer be ignored. So I applaud what is happening while at the same time I grieve that our government isn't leading and is in fact placing stumbling blocks in the way of justice, acceptance, and peace.

When I find myself on the same side as Franklin Graham in challenging our government's actions, positions, and policies I know that something just isn't right. I really want my government to lead us in compassion, to do what is just and right. I want my government to be an institution that leads us on the path to a world that makes life better for all and especially the poor, outcast and ignored. I think that it is the duty of a government to seek the common good and to lead its citizens to a place that empowers, uplifts, and encourages the well being of all its citizens and immigrants and asylum seekers.

As I look over our society I see elements of our government that are trying to do what is right, I see individual elected officials working for the common good. But it seems that they are voices in the wilderness and that forces are at work to keep their voice and witness hidden. But corporate America seems to have found a way to have their voice heard and their witness seen. So, who is leading? At this time it seems corporations are taking that role. I wish it were the church but we have lost the credibility to lead in this way, we are working to regain it but right now people don't believe that the church can lead us forward into a transformed world. We in the church have a role and need to fulfill it but there is a void and it seems that some in corporate America are stepping into the void and they will lead us.

I hope and pray that we will follow, that we will see the writing on the wall and know that the future isn't reflected in the present and that "we shall overcome someday". Have faith, keep hope in your heart and when corporate America steps up applaud! And work to help the church regain credibility so that we can share this work.