‘Are we a nation of cruelty or a nation of compassion?’

LOUISVILLE — With the nation deeply divided and at a turning point, U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a Presbyterian from Delaware, posed a question during a talk Monday at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.: “Are we a nation of cruelty or a nation of compassion?”

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Coons, who attends First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, appeared as part of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church’s McClendon Scholar Program. His talk, “Living Out One’s Faith in Difficult Times,” and a question-and-answer session with the church’s senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Sarah Johnson, can be seen here. Coons is introduced at the 12:09 mark.

Coons said he began the day Monday walking around his house singing “This is the Day.” His wife asked, “what’s gotten into you?”

“I said, ‘hopefully, a Spirit-filled message to share with some friends — some Presbyterians, congregants at home who might be watching, and all of you,’” he said.

What’s happening in the nation and in the world is hardly unprecedented, Coons said. “From this exact space, folks went to Selma to march. In the sanctuary that preceded this spot, a president in the midst of the most bloody and divisive war in our history sought refuge,” he said. “Having given up on any other source of inspiration, he at long last turned to the Lord.”

Coons said he spent a day last week with an Afghan he’s been friends with for four years. This man served alongside American troops for nine years and saved the lives of at least three American soldiers, then settled in Delaware “and is making steady progress toward life as an American,” Coons said. But “he now lives in daily terror that he may be scooped up, put on a plane, and be sent back to certain death.”

Coons spent the next day with his closest friend from high school “who is steadily moving toward a tragic death from ALS,” Coons said. “We spent time talking about how his faith sustains him in the midst of the cruelest chapter of his wonderful life.”

His friend told Coons, “who am I to complain? Who am I to question God if my last chapter is the hardest?”

Coons spun stories including his father bringing a convicted murderer named Paul home for a visit when Coons was a boy. “That man changed my life,” Coons said, as did “that risk by my father — that he brought a murderer home to three young sons.” It came home again when Coons’ own daughter, who was in a car one day with her father, spied a homeless woman. “Dad, don’t we have an empty bedroom?” she asked. “Why can’t she live with us?”

“Our national political moment is hard. It’s troubled. It’s difficult,” Coons said, especially last week’s shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis. “You may be here seeking a conversation about how our faith sustains us through difficult times for utterly unrelated reasons: a beloved who is going to an early death through a terrible diagnosis, a job that’s been lost, a house that’s slipping away, a family that’s divided. … There are so many reasons we are here tonight.”

A biblical cornerstone for Coons has long been Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

He called faith “an anchor, no matter what the wind is that drives the storm,” and added prayer, scripture, companionship and fellowship as “ways we find God in different places.”

Coons shared stories of saints who are gone and some who are still living, including his friend the Rev. Paul Verryn of South Africa. One day when Coons was visiting, Verryn took a truck to Soweto loaded with relief supplies. A mob set upon him, dragged him out of the truck, and threatened to kill him. Someone noticed Verryn’s clerical collar and said, “this is the good priest. Don’t kill him today.”

Verryn returned home and calmly put together relief materials for the next day. “You’re coming with me,” he told Coons, who hesitated. “Are you afraid to die?” Verryn asked his friend. “I thought you said you were a Christian.”

“There are sources of inspiration — these living saints — all around us,” Coons said. “Find your way to good trouble, no matter where you are.”

He called it “a challenge” to walk out onto the Senate floor “and remember to be humble, to see the best in others, believe in the possibility of progress, stay grounded in my faith and try to live it,” Coons said. “There are quite a few of us from both parties who take our faith very seriously and yet reach opposite conclusions, because the gospel is not a partisan document.”

On Sunday, Coons had lunch with another old friend, former President Joe Biden. “I said to him, ‘you know what I miss most about working with you day to day? Compassion. Your motivating value at your core is compassion — seeing people and their struggles, having lived through your own grief and getting back up again.’ He wouldn’t like me to repeat that,” Coons said, “because he hates it when I compliment him.”

Our current deciding moment is upon us, he said, and we must decide “are we a nation of cruelty or a nation of compassion?”

“We need to know whose we are, who we are and where we’re headed,” Coons said. One direction could be that selected by a recent Republican president. George W. Bush’s emergency plan for AIDS relief, known as PEPFAR, “made Jesus smile, not weep,” Coons said.

Last weekend, Coons was at First and Central Presbyterian Church to help feed and encourage about 80 Wilmington residents who’d spent the night on the streets. A woman threw her arms around Coons and asked him, can we pray?

“By the end of our prayer, she blessed me: I pray that Chris can make it through next week. I was in tears,” Coons said. “Let’s pick up the tools God gives us,” including companionship and fellowship, meditating on scripture, prayer and praise, engagement and action.

He suggested using the quiet of morning and night to sing songs many Christians have known since Vacation Bible School: “This Little Light of Mine,” “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and “Jesus Loves Me.” After singing the familiar songs, “you’ll find yourself sustained, even in gale-force winds,” he said.

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After the talk, Johnson sat down with Coons to ask questions. Did he feel called to public service?

Coons’ second-grade teacher used to call him “Senator.”

“Be careful what you tell kids,” he said. “I have loved being a senator for 14 years. My problem is this is my 15^th year,” he said.

Some people get in Coons’ face and tell him to fight harder. You need to be tougher, they tell him. Coons has built a reputation for seeking a way forward by finding common ground and seeking concession.

“This has been a really bad year, but I actually think it’s my job to go back there with [Senator] Lindsey Graham and say, ‘we wrote that bill together last year. You voted for it, and you knew what was in it. Now, how do we rebuild it?’”

Coons said he’s been grateful “for the voice and the witness of Pope Leo.”

“I never thought there would be a pope I agreed with more than Pope Francis,” he said. Pope Leo has picked up Francis’ encouragement to welcome people who are undocumented, Coons said. “We can want a secure border but not want daily cruelty to people who have done nothing more wrong than come to our country seeking refuge and opportunity. People who come here from other countries make us better and stronger and freer.”

Asked by Johnson what makes him hopeful in this moment about serving in Congress, Coons said that “as dysfunctional as it is right now, it’s the possibility.” Together, he and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski co-chair the ALS caucus. In brief order they helped pass a law that put $100 million into ALS research. “What gives me hope in Congress is we still do things like this,” Coons said. “The day I stop having hope is the day I start losing faith in the people of this nation.”

In response to a question about what congregations and denominations can do, Coons suggested finding “ways to witness that are concrete and local, that touch people and improve their lives. Find ways to witness that are more about hope and love and optimism than they are about anger.”

“Connect with each other, if that’s how your spirituality is fed,” he suggested. “Find a moment of awe and then help someone.”