Charity for the Worst of Times

With purpose in our steps and a glint of righteous determination in our eyes, my husband and I recently made our way to our local polling station. We immediately espied a lone middle-aged woman positioned strategically on the building’s perimeter. She was wrapped in a coat against the unusually chilly spring morning and was surrounded by posters urging a vote in favor of her point of view. My husband mumbled a pleasantry as we walked by, in response to her lobbying appeal. I, on the other hand, adjusted my jacket and kept my head forward. 

My head was down as we left too. Back in the car, I wondered at my brusqueness, which was as chilly as the morning and surprisingly unyielding. I knew nothing about the woman except that her “yes” vote was contrary to my “no.” The further away from the polling station we got, the more curious I became about her: How could she believe as she did? Why was she willing to stand alone promoting her cause? Why did she stand committed in the cold while I hastened home to the warmth? Was I feeling jealousy or offense brewing at being out-value-signaled?

The I Voted sticker on my stiffened jacket and my secret ballot at the polling station started to pale. A rising drumbeat in my chest indicated the press of growing conviction—as a phrase from early years of our children’s American history lessons presented itself; 

“With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

She had looked to be a mother, perhaps even a grandmother. She needs to consider more carefully, certainly more biblically—! I thought. The defenseless unborn, the disregard for family, the marring of the imago Dei, the rule of law! I could go on! I felt validated and morally justified, sitting on my side of the political equation. Then why was I beginning to feel internally like a child being placed in time-out to contemplate unacceptable behavior? The phrase was stuck on repeat—my brain the chalkboard and my conscience the chalk, assigned to write one hundred times, till I got it: With charity for all! 

A Leader’s Costly Example 

The American Civil War had raged on for four years and was in its final weeks when President Abraham Lincoln took the podium to deliver his second inaugural address. This masterpiece of American rhetoric reflected nothing of triumphalism or gloating, though it was clear by this time that the Confederacy would be defeated. Grieved by the heavy loss of life, and additionally weighed down by personal grief at the recent death of his young son, Willie, the president’s closing paragraph nevertheless was gracious.

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.” (My emphasis.)[1]

President Lincoln was barely into his speech when he extended Charity’s first warm outreach on that day by establishing that no one had wanted the war. “All dreaded it; all sought to avoid it,” he affirmed. He declared this even while acknowledging the existence of what he termed “insurgent agents in the city, seeking to destroy the Union . . . and dissolve its effects.” Of course, a primary effect, or action, was the federal restraints on the expansion of chattel slavery, causing economically undesirable effects for the slavery-dependent Southern states of the Union. Lincoln magnanimously highlighted that these “agents” had sought to achieve their ends of autonomy by negotiation.

Concurrently, he explained, he and those with him in the Capitol had been just as diligently working to preserve the Union, similarly hoping to do so without engaging armed warfare. He painted a truthful picture of opposing parties with differing goals, each yet abhorring the “nuclear option” of war. In this I saw that noble leader’s example of charitable judgment, a necessary ingredient in the antidote for healing the open wounds of a bleeding nation.  

“With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

Our sixteenth president also illustrated the deference of charity in that speech. He wrote, “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” This statement extended an olive branch, resisting painting his opponents as ultimate Evil or his side as paragons of Virtue. Rather, he offered that each side was discerning the right as best they could, having sought God. “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God.” he later stated generously in the same speech. Charity’s deference involves making a conscious effort to show courteous regard for the opinion of another, however contrary it is to one’s own, yielding perfect judgement to the only perfect Judge. 

“With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

The woman on the curb, surrounded by her lobbying posters, had turned towards us again, as we had returned from casting our ballot…Was she still lobbying? Or was she now just being civil? I had refused to know. But whatever had smothered courtesy and politeness in my bosom was now being challenged. What if she had turned to greet us, knowing it would now make no difference? Maybe she was a thoughtful and decent person… despite her view. Charity’s deference required giving the benefit of the doubt and seeking to return common courtesy.

Managing the ”Right”

President Lincoln resolutely stepped into the harness of his second term and laced his speech with grace but refused to shirk his responsibility. In full embrace of his public oath and office, he established that there was a right and a right that required a war to defend it. Admitting that it is possible to sincerely have differing interpretations and understanding of the application of Scripture, that caused even brothers to be at odds, the president made clear that his job yet entailed making a decision for the greater good, in face of such an impasse. It fell to him to have the courage to follow through to secure that right which the majority of the voting citizens of a democratic republic had entrusted to his judgement. He would do his duty and leave the outcome to Providence and the sovereignty of God, entrusting himself to the One who judges justly even if it meant paying with his life, which tragically, he eventually did. [2] 

Humbly desiring to stitch the torn fabric of the nation together again, President Lincoln paved a kindly path of common ground in his speech for his opponents to tread. 

“With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

Thus, allowing that neither North nor South had discerned nor acted purely, he identified why neither side therefore had achieved their full way, despite having sought God’s assistance against the other’s cause. His deep-set eyes, clarified by Scripture and personal pain, reached for a deeper dealing of the Almighty and chose reference to the dark thread of American chattel slavery to further weave his message of healing. 

He stated, “It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces but let us judge not that we be not judged.” In this he indicated that unrighteous heart motives prompt asking of God amiss, whether by lobby, ballot or bullet. 

“Woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” he continued, laying culpability at the feet of victor and loser alike. The offense of placing economic interests over and against an institution that dehumanized God’s image-bearers (both the enslaved and the enslaver) had come by both, and so both suffered the woe. 

His quote alludes to Scripture which reads:

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. . . You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss” (James 4:1- 3 NKJV). 

What did my discourteous stiff neck and cold shoulder indicate about my heart posture and prayers? And at what else was my ballot cast that morning, besides political policies?

Time out or Countdown?

Duly instructed by the recall of Lincoln’s words and the Scriptures which informed them, I felt a sudden desire for a do-over. If I could not view the lady lobbying on the curb as other than an image bearer for whom Christ had sacrificed His life, how could I expect anyone else to? It was too late to return her greeting; too late to smile, shake hands, talk and exchange contacts with her; too late to learn whether she was a grandmother and her thoughts about the imago dei. But as I pulled into my neighborhood with the recently diversely altered make up of its population, I realized I had new opportunities right there, as we all do across our bitterly divided nation. No, it is never too late for charity. 

Podcasts and social media feeds prognosticate that we are due the visitation of another similar woe as that of the American Civil War, if not worse, for the many and novel offenses which America has generated over the 160 years since Lincoln’s speech. Perhaps we might avert that woe, if like children who hear the heavy footsteps of a disciplining parent approaching, we remember Lincoln’s example of charitable judgement and deference, and having purified our desires and petitions by the cross of Jesus Christ, boldly heed Charity’s call.

[1] President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural was delivered at Washington, D. C., March 4, 1865.

[2] The American Civil War ended four weeks after Lincoln’s speech; he was assassinated a week after that, on April 15, 1865.

The featured image, “Holywell Cemetery Celtic Cross,” is courtesy of Lancia E. Smith and is used with her glad permission for Cultivating.

Denise Stair-Armstrong

Denise Armstrong (née Stair), blogs from a Christian cross-cultural perspective at denisesarmstrong.com. Born Jamaican, she received her Diploma in Education and a BA degree from Shortwood Teacher’s College and the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Jamaica. 

She delights to serve in areas of Christian discipleship, alongside her husband Claude. Their marriage of over thirty years which has joyfully produced three ‘Jamerican’ offspring, has also generated much fodder for marriage ministry to young couples. They thoroughly enjoyed serving in this capacity in their recent five-year tour of duty in Germany where they ministered among the US military community there. She also earned an MA in Christian Cultural Apologetics while there.

Denise’s work in playwriting, poetry, and creative-non-fiction essays, has appeared on Jamaican television, in international poetry reading events, and in The Joyful Life and Cultivating, as well as in The Caribbean Writer, a Literary Journal of the Virgin Islands.

denisesarmstrong.com