A few months ago, I received a letter from a friend asking for advice. The letter says, “I want to ask for some advice regarding politics. I started trying to help 5 years ago and in those 5 years, I’ve never seen so much deception, greed, lies, good ol’ boy clubs, evil plans, abuse, etc. My eyes were truly open to the amount of evil in our country and our city. I had no idea.” It then goes on to describe the cost of that 5-year involvement. And the loss of friends, the breaking of relationships, friends walking away and saying rude things.

And then she says “I’ve got friends involved in politics with me and we are tired, exhausted, crying, and ready to give up. We just can’t do it anymore. Nobody not in the fight seems to care that there is a fight. Knocking at doors trying to tell neighbors, trying to get their church to help. We all get the same thing: ‘I don’t want to know.’ ‘I don’t care about politics.’ ‘I don’t have time, I have a golf game to get to.’ ‘Why are you doing this? These things aren’t happening.’ Pastor, how do we stay in the conflict?”

Joe Rigney, “The bishop’s untethered empathy,” January 24, 2025.

Daniel Darling, “More dangerous than ever,” August 28, 2024.