Does your pastor have courage?

At a time like this, I pray he/she does

I often forget that my IG posts copy to both my Facebook and Threads. I don’t worry much about the Threads, as it (like IG) is one of my professional accounts. I rarely post pictures of my family or relay personal news (if you haven’t noticed).

Facebook is a different story. Facebook is where my husband hangs out most of the time. Facebook is where we have the largest number of pre-2021 friends (which means before I published The Making of Biblical Womanhood). Facebook is where my husband’s peers, fellow pastors, and current/former congregants are. Which means Facebook is the place that I am most likely to cause him into trouble.

I worry more about this than he does. Part of my worry, I’m sure, is because of my informal pastor’s wife training that pounded into me how my actions reflect on my husband (if you want to know more about this, see my forthcoming book Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry).

Part of my worry stems, too, from the school of been-there-done-that. I watched him lose his job in 2016 for speaking out. He knows the cost of truth telling.

Which brings us to last night when, in a moment of absolute disgust after watching video clips of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, I posted this on my IG:

And I forgot that it posted to my Facebook, also. It isn’t that I mind speaking truth on Facebook. I just worried, when I opened my Facebook and saw the post staring at me, that it might have negative consequences for my husband.

I shouldn’t have worried.

When I clicked on the post, I realized my husband had left a comment. He had responded to an acquaintance from my pre-2021 life who disagreed with me and called Ukraine corrupt. I won’t post that response here as it isn’t my point.

My point is what my husband wrote in response. On my Facebook page in full view for all to see.

Here it is:

“Yes, there is corruption in Ukraine (much of which linked to Russia). There's also rampant corruption in Russia. There's also rampant corruption in the U.S. That's not what this is about. It's about standing againt a brutal dictator who illegally invaded its neighbor and who we pledged to defend a long time ago.

"America first" is a shameful slogan, especially when it comes from the mouth of a Christian. It is far better to do what is right than what we think will benefit America first. There's nothing great about placating dictators, repeating their propaganda and abandoning our allies. There's nothing great about calling the victim the aggressor. There's nothing great about suggesting that MAYBE we'll help, only if they give us a massive chunk of their natural resources. If that's what it means to put America first, then we abandon our historic claim to be a force for freedom against the world's oppressors and become an oppressor ourselves.”

In this current climate, a statement like that from a pastor in my part of Texas can be costly. It can cost congregants, which really hurts tiny churches like ours which have no change to spare. It can cost jobs, which are really hard to come by in my neck of the woods for pastors who fully support women in ministry and speak out against Trump.

But that doesn’t keep my husband from speaking the truth. This is why I dedicated Becoming the Pastor’s Wife to him. As I wrote,

“This is for my husband, Jeb. If more pastor’s had your integrity, courage, and faith, the church would be a much better place.”

It is time for pastors who know what is right to stop being afraid.

It is time for pastors to stand against unChristlike behavior. To stand against bullying and tyranny and obsequious lying and cruelty and racism and misogyny. To stand for the oppressed instead of with the oppressors. To stand for justice and mercy instead of power and might.

Because “it is far better to do what is right than what we think will benefit us more.”