by Rev. Eric Folkerth

There’s an interesting exercise happening at the New York Times right now. Eight opinion writers from across the political spectrum have written essays on the common theme “I was wrong about…”

The online landing page to all the essays starts with this introduction: “I did my research. I read, watched, I talked to the experts. I formed an opinion and I wrote about it.”

They essayists write about things such as “Inflation,” “Facebook,” “Trump voters,” and “Chinese censorship.”

I’m fascinated and inspired that these columnists chose to so publicly disclose things they now, in retrospect, believe they got wrong about the world.

If I was to answer this same question, there is no question that my number one answer would be:
“I was wrong about the inevitability of progress.”

If there is one thing that events of the past decade have taught me, it’s that the myth that progress is inevitable is just that…a dangerous myth.

For the vast majority of my life, I think I believed in an onward and upward trajectory of human innovation and progress led by our ability to think ourselves out of hard societal problems and come together around shared values.

My Father was a rocket scientist. His part of believing this myth was that logic and science would solve all our chronic human ills. He seemed to believe that society would “think” its way out of its problems.

Our modern era has shown us, however, that scientific data itself can be forged and manipulated. Our best discoveries can be turned against humanity.
From the threat of nuclear annihilation to the opioid crisis…
From climate science deniers to doctors who lambasted the COVID vaccine…

It is clear to us now, or it should be, that we can’t just passively “think” ourselves” out of a jam.

Nor can we just “feel” our way out of our problems either.

We’ve had decades of talking about “tolerance” and “respect” for other human beings. We’ve made great social gains in accepting people of various races, faiths, and sexual orientations.

But at the end of the day, reactionary forces still push back, deny our scientific and our social gains.

Please understand, I still think we can, and do, make “progress” in the world. We can, and do, come together around shared values. (At least, some of us do…)

But increasingly, it’s clear to me that the idea of that progress is not “inevitable” or guaranteed.

I suppose if there was one phrase that summed up the “myth of progress,” it would be a phrase so often attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

In our modern era, it seems far too many of us have believed that this sentence connotes a kind of inevitability of justice, fairness, and equity.

Sure, things often look challenging in any present moment, but that arc bends and it cannot HELP BUT BEND.

It’s this last part —the part I’ve put in all caps— that I no longer believe.

Yes, justice and equity are possible.
But, no, they are not inevitable.

And that “arc” is never a straight line, onward and upward. Instead, progress seems to fold back on itself before lurching forward again.

But! Progress *only* happens if we continue to work, struggle, and believe that our actions matter. Should we simply sit back, rest, and hubristically believe we have arrived at some perfect moment of eternal bliss, we will find ourselves horrifically mistaken.

Even further, we must be prepared to re-fight struggles for justice and equity that we thought were “already decided.” We don’t ever, as a society, leave things like racism, homophobia, and tribalism in our past…because we human beings have a tribal core that always rears its ugly head.

This coming Sunday, we’ll unpack scripture from Luke 11. The stories start with the Disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. In response, he teaches them “The Lord’s Prayer.”

But, instead of just giving them some rote words to repeat, Jesus very quickly tells them two short analogies designed to reinforce a simple truth:

“Keep after it.”

It seems Jesus is telling his Disciples: “Pray…yes, absolutely do that…but also keep after it.” KEEP praying…keep working toward justice…keep believing that your actions matter every day.”

Never get to a place in life where you believe you have arrived.

We United Methodists call this “moving toward perfection.” We United Methodists believe our calling is to work *toward* that state, but to avoid believing we have permanently “arrived.”

As I look back at my adult life, I must now say that I was wrong about the inevitability of social progress and justice. I am afraid that some of this may well have come from my own relatively privileged position in our society.

Jesus’ words about prayer indicate that he knew something about how many of us feel today.

We feel that too many around us have their doors shut and no longer seem to care for the world around them. And maybe they do. But that shouldn’t change our own persistence in working to make the world a more just, compassionate, and fair place.

Never believe you have permanently arrived. Life is a journey of each successive day, and struggle is a part of our calling.

But, be persistent, Jesus says. What we do matters…to ourselves, to our world, and to God.