As Christians once again await the inbreaking of God’s incarnate love with expectant hearts, it’s easy to feel weary at the current state of the world.
In my United Methodist tradition, we often sing different verses of the hymn, “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel” throughout the Advent season and into Christmas Eve. This year, these verses hit different.
As we close out the first year of Trump’s second administration, we are left grappling with the damage of unwise and failing policies. The horrors are endless.
The early DOGE days of gutting the federal government. Trump’s misguided understanding of how tariffs work. The passing of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which is expected to wreck health insurance coverage for over ten million Americans while making disastrous cuts to SNAP and other social services, all the while exploding the deficit.
We are ending 2025 with a dysfunctional government leaving millions of its own people in dire situations.
Oh come, thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show, and cause us in Her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Trump’s policies are rooted in deeply harmful politics of exclusion. His rhetoric stems from the deeply hateful ideologies of white supremacy, xenophobia, heteropatriarchy, ableism and an increasing amount of unhinged narcissism.
The latter has been on full display. The President recently made death threats against members of Congress who encouraged the military to follow the law. On social media and in an interview, he disparaged Rob Reiner and Michele Singer after their brutal murder at the hands of their son. Two days later, he delivered an eighteen-minute, nearly incomprehensible rant from the White House that reiterated his unstable and narcissistic character.
Oh come, thou Root of Jesse’s tree, an ensign of thy people be;
Before thee rulers silent fall; all peoples on thy mercy call.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Perhaps most alarming is the implementation of one of Trump’s key campaign promises: mass arrests, detentions, and deportations carried out by an increasingly dangerous nationwide regime of newly minted ICE agents.
The MAGA faithful proudly touted their “Mass Deportation NOW!” signs at 2024 rallies. Their support has translated into 2025 being the deadliest year for people in ICE custody since 2004, with at least 30 deaths registered by mid-December. Additionally, the number of people placed in ICE detention reached the highest level in history in the first ten months of Trump’s second term.
O come, thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home.
The captives from their prison free, and conquer death’s deep misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Of course, Trump does not act alone in implementing his authoritarian rule. He is aided by the judicial system, a result of the most significant success of his first administration—stacking the higher and lower courts with sympathetic judges.
This year, the Supreme Court granted ICE agents the authority to racially profile people based solely on perceptions that they look like an immigrant. The court also allowed the Trump regime to deport immigrants without hearing or notice to countries where they have never lived, where they could face torture and death.
Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s state law banning gender affirming care for trans minors, paving the way for multiple states to inflict more harm on some of our society’s most vulnerable youth.
O come, though Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by thy justice here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
And in a season where we long to fully realize the angel’s proclamation of “peace on earth,” we find ourselves choking on those words as we look at our foreign policy.
Russia’s nearly four-year war on Ukraine wages on with no “deal” to end it in sight. Our tax dollars continue to support the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Our president seems hellbent on starting a war with Venezuela.
Oh come, Desire of nations bind all peoples in one heart and mind.
From dust thou brought us forth to life, deliver us from earthly strife.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. But regardless of all that has transpired this year and the decades it will take to recover from much of the damage, I’m choosing hope this Christmas, childish as it may seem. I do this for no other reason than the Advent narrative of hope, peace, joy, and love that is held tenderly in the promise of “Emmanuel: God with us.”
It’s not a naïve hope. I hold no illusions that ICE raids will slow down or uninsured people will suddenly have access to affordable healthcare. I don’t see the wars in Palestine or Ukraine coming to a complete, immediate end.
Rather, I’m clinging, perhaps desperately, to a hope that puts my faith, energy and mental health into life-giving work and community.
I received an early Christmas gift at a cookie exchange party last weekend. One woman’s cookie-making efforts fell flat, so she brought home-made (3D-printed) ICE whistles instead. I put one on my keychain and brought several extras home for my husband, a pastor, to give to his staff for Christmas.
I haven’t opened any presents under my tree but I think this might be my favorite gift this year, either given or received. It gives me hope when I think about how our church will not tolerate ICE raids on our property.
Because choosing to stand with our immigrant neighbors is what it means to embody “God with us” as we head into year two of the Trump regime. It is that hope which allows me to faithfully and prayerfully sing:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanual shall come to thee, O Israel.
May it be so.
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Dr. Rebecca M. David Hensley holds a PhD in religious studies, with an emphasis in theological and social ethics. She is a member of the adjunct faculty for Iliff School of Theology and an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church.
