As we commemorate the detonation of nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 and 9, 1945, we are still convicted by Albert Einstein’s words, “everything has changed except the way we think.” With growing tensions involving Russia’s rhetoric in the aftermath of NATO’s support of Ukraine, the Union of Concerned Scientists has updated its Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight. The signs of the times – the reality of an interdependent planet in which no nation stands alone - are obvious in pandemic, economics, climate change, and nuclear peril, but will we pay attention, or do we care enough to change our way of thinking and act accordingly? We know the risks, but can we overcome our denial and do something meaningful to de-nuclearize our planet.
The capacity for denial is great. We often don’t make necessary changes until they are thrust on us. That was the case with the pandemic and is the case, for those with eyes to see, about global climate change, still called a “hoax” by prevaricating politicians and seen as a nuisance, and not a real threat, by conservatives whose mantra remains “drill, baby, drill.”
I must admit that I don’t have a solution. I often act as if I have forever in my personal life, put off changes that can ensure better health, and neglect to seize the moment in relationships and possibilities. Most of the time, I live in denial, too. But I need to wake up, feel the ongoing precariousness of our situation, and marshal my resources to imagine meaningful action.
I am going to do one thing this year that takes me back to college when I read sections of John Hersey’s Hiroshima for a twenty-four-hour vigil, sponsored by the college chaplains at San Jose State University, where I spent my undergraduate years. I am going to read Hersey’s Hiroshima again and let the emotions flow as they did the first time, fifty years ago, when I was a college sophomore.
I know that this won’t solve the problem of nuclear proliferation. But it is important that I remember the youthful idealism, the hopefulness, and the sense we could change the world. That I can dust off the Doomsday Clock, remember the emotions of the Day After, the film that frightened, agitated, and alerted college students, nearly forty years ago, when I was once more in college, this time as a university chaplain at Georgetown.
I invite you to read Hiroshima, open to your despair and hopelessness, and then summon the courage to do something to choose life for our planet and generations to come. We are, after all, the hands and feet of God, and the ones we have been waiting for. If we give up home, and resign ourselves to passivity, what hope is there?
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Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, and author of over sixty books, including “Mystics in Action: Twelve Saints for Today,” “Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism,” and “Prophetic Healing: Howard Thurman’s Vision of Contemplative Activism.” He is the author of the spirituality of politics trilogy, “Process Theology and Politics,” “One World: The Lord’s Prayer from a Process Perspective,” and “Talking Politics: A Process Perspective on the Sermon on the Mount.” He may be reached at drbruceepperly@gmail.com
The capacity for denial is great. We often don’t make necessary changes until they are thrust on us. That was the case with the pandemic and is the case, for those with eyes to see, about global climate change, still called a “hoax” by prevaricating politicians and seen as a nuisance, and not a real threat, by conservatives whose mantra remains “drill, baby, drill.”
I must admit that I don’t have a solution. I often act as if I have forever in my personal life, put off changes that can ensure better health, and neglect to seize the moment in relationships and possibilities. Most of the time, I live in denial, too. But I need to wake up, feel the ongoing precariousness of our situation, and marshal my resources to imagine meaningful action.
I am going to do one thing this year that takes me back to college when I read sections of John Hersey’s Hiroshima for a twenty-four-hour vigil, sponsored by the college chaplains at San Jose State University, where I spent my undergraduate years. I am going to read Hersey’s Hiroshima again and let the emotions flow as they did the first time, fifty years ago, when I was a college sophomore.
I know that this won’t solve the problem of nuclear proliferation. But it is important that I remember the youthful idealism, the hopefulness, and the sense we could change the world. That I can dust off the Doomsday Clock, remember the emotions of the Day After, the film that frightened, agitated, and alerted college students, nearly forty years ago, when I was once more in college, this time as a university chaplain at Georgetown.
I invite you to read Hiroshima, open to your despair and hopelessness, and then summon the courage to do something to choose life for our planet and generations to come. We are, after all, the hands and feet of God, and the ones we have been waiting for. If we give up home, and resign ourselves to passivity, what hope is there?
+++
Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, and author of over sixty books, including “Mystics in Action: Twelve Saints for Today,” “Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism,” and “Prophetic Healing: Howard Thurman’s Vision of Contemplative Activism.” He is the author of the spirituality of politics trilogy, “Process Theology and Politics,” “One World: The Lord’s Prayer from a Process Perspective,” and “Talking Politics: A Process Perspective on the Sermon on the Mount.” He may be reached at drbruceepperly@gmail.com
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