Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1527947
October/November 2024 | maconmagazine.com 75 We began with singing, our collective voices claiming a common hope. Over a hundred participants attended. We listened to a few speakers, including Lida Hill, a member of Mulberry UMC. We watched the documentary "God and Country." We broke into small groups for conversation. "Christian Nationalism is scary and powerful, and few people we talk with seem to know what it is," Hill said. Roche said the goal was "to engage Christians who have nationalist beliefs, to listen and try to understand while also expressing my confi dent spirit in a loving God who will protect us, and also my confi dence in a democratic republic that was founded with the intent of separation of church and state." The confi dent spirit Roche describes could go by another word: hope. Christian Nationalists insist on power; Christians rely on hope. I could not begin to explain all the nuances of the Christian Nationalist movement. I can describe a group of people who gathered in hope, an embodiment of A book of hymns at Centenary UMC in Macon. RIGHT Lida Hill speaks at Understanding Christian Nationalism. LOWER RIGHT Maconites protect Temple Beth Israel when it was targeted by antisemitic provocateurs. Hope is not a flimsy sentiment; hope is a mighty catalyst. Hope does not require power, and hope does not rely on coercion. Hope has sustained movements, and hope has made change happen. Follow the Women's Interfaith Alliance of Central Georgia on Facebook for more discussions across di erence the faith they claim. They invited strangers to gather, pray, and sing. Neighbors were invited to inquiry, asked to listen. Collaborative, not combative, voices sang together, chairs turned toward one another in conversation, a posture of peace. I bet we did not all agree. I bet we all hope for our nation. Theologian Howard Thurman tells us hope is "the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one more thing to try when all else has failed." Hope is not a fl imsy sentiment; hope is a mighty catalyst. Hope does not require power, and hope does not rely on coercion. Hope has sustained movements, and hope has made change happen. I hope my children will one day celebrate a history in which we overcame the rending of our frayed future and became stronger in the weaving of vibrant faiths and a common good. said, "I could identify with persons in both camps. I certainly didn't believe fear was a good idea and, as a Catholic, believe in a universal church." Connection, rather than divisiveness, was the goal. "I felt it important to begin a discussion with other Christians on how we could get along peacefully and in a spirit of love," Roche said. As a Baptist, I was eager to show up. Baptists have a long history of upholding separation of church and state. From our Roger Williams heritage, Baptists have been at the forefront of eff orts for religious freedom. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us that the church "is not to be the master or the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state." We see conscience at work when we feed our neighbors together. Conscience moved us to stand alongside hundreds of our neighbors outside Temple Beth Israel last year to protest antisemitic actions in Macon. That kind of collective care was on my mind as I sat down in a pew with dozens of my Macon neighbors.