When trauma and joy compete in your soul, do mundane things

We're now a month-plus into the second Trump administration and it's hard to imagine why this time of what's been called "shock and awe" has been necessary.

The costs and disruptions to the lives of millions have been simply staggering, all of which has raised the question of how people of faith, committed to live lives of love, generosity and care for others, are responding and, more to the point, how they should be responding.

Today I will share with you one example of a response. It's by a gay pastor who has felt almost overwhelmed by actions, statements and policies that she finds destructive and abhorrent. But she also recognizes that it's vital not to start dehumanizing the people with whom she disagrees. It's vital to her as a Christian to recognize the image of God even in politicians whose words and deeds she finds repugnant.

Kali Cawthon-Freels, writing here in Good Faith Media, says the last month-plus has "felt like a decade" and that February is "not faring much better."

She comes from a demographic that has felt particularly threatened or at least marginalized by the new administration, and she's had to figure out how to handle the pressure for herself and for those to whom she ministers.

"Businesses in my town have closed," she writes. "ICE has enacted raids in areas where my congregation serves. Federal government employees are anxiously watching their inboxes, wondering if they will be in the next round of layoffs.

"In a recent Sunday school class, the parents of one of our trans youth shared that their teenager’s doctor called to inform them the office would no longer offer HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to their underage patients–their son included. These violations of rights are no longer hypothetical; they are happening to people I know and love."

But she also writes this: "In that same Sunday school room – on the very same day, even – we celebrated one of our trans young adults as she prepared for her upcoming baptism. LGBTQ+ people are still claiming and reclaiming their belovedness as children of God, and it is a beautiful sight to behold."

So how do you carry such joy and deep sadness at the same time? 

Many other people I know have experienced similar events and similar reactions, though why so many people didn't see this coming has been a surprise to me. President Trump and the Trump-Musk administration are doing precisely what Trump promised on the campaign trail to do. Weren't people listening?

Cawthon-Freels writes that "I’ve preached numerous times about how joy and grief aren’t mutually exclusive, how they are likely even two sides of the same coin. In precedented times, I still believe that’s true; grief and joy are intricately connected due to our love for the people in our lives."

So the task for many Americans today is to recognize that reality, to resist what is causing grief and to marinate in what is causing joy. It's also to promise to pay more attention to the deeply flawed political system that picks our leaders and to work to make sure informed voters know what they need to know to make wise decisions.

Beyond that, Cawthon-Freels has this advice: "(K)eep doing mundane things. Yes, advocate and protest, but keep doing the little things. Celebrate birthdays. Consume art. Host that church potluck. Text silly jokes to your friends. Hold your partner’s hand in public. Wear your favorite sweater, the one that makes you feel like you."

All that, and listen to what your faith tradition might be telling you about the reality that we're all made in God's image and that we must never dehumanize the people with whom we disagree the most. Never.

* * *

ARE YOU USING YOUR PROPHETIC VOICE?

It should not be necessary to write the kind of column that Jesuit priest and author Thomas Reece has written here about how the Trump/Musk administration is ignoring the teachings of Jesus when it criticizes both Pope Francis and foreign aid to feed hungry people. But it is more necessary than ever, and I'm glad Reece is among those resisting silence as an option. I hope you, too, are finding ways to speak out about whatever outrageous thing the administration has done lately. You can at least send an email to or call your elected representatives in Washington.

* * *

P.S.: If you missed my latest Flatland column when it posted Sunday, it's still available for free here. It's about the Kansas City-grown National Catholic Reporters' Pulitzer-Prize winning new executive editor, James V. Grimaldi.