Have They No Shame? Leadership and Amorality.

They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.   --Jeremiah 6:14-15

It’s one of the most human and instinctive emotional responses to external stimuli.  To blush. Blushing. That’s when our cheeks turn red, when we feel ourselves flushed with warmth, when we are embarrassed by or feeling shame about something that we have done or not done. Some realization that we are wrong or made a mistake or just screwed up and so when we blush, it is our bodies way of saying, “We went too far.  We crossed the line.  We were wrong.”

Years ago, from the church pulpit one Sunday morning, I decided to make a joke about the wedding I’d officiated at the day before, to get some laughs by telling worshippers about how the wedding party was so late to the altar. But just when I’d finished my storytelling I looked down into the congregation and saw, sitting right in the pews, the newly married couple I’d just mocked. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more embarrassed and ashamed at what I’d done with my cutting words and self-serving joke making.  

And boy, did I blush.

I felt deep shame about my cheap shot. I knew immediately after the words left my mouth that I had done wrong and been hurtful to another. At coffee hour after worship, I apologized profusely to the couple and to their credit, they were gracious and kind in their forgiveness.

What a jerk I was!

But what happens when humans “do not even know how to blush,” in the words of the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah? He was writing about government leaders of his day, who were bringing great suffering down upon the people by their actions, but those same leaders were completely unashamed of what they did. They did not give a damn about the pain and hurt that they caused.  They knew their actions were wrong. Yet they were so arrogant, so uncaring, so drunk with power, and so blind to the effects that their actions had upon the people, that shame was just not in their emotional vocabulary.

And certainly not blushing.

In the eleven weeks since our current President took office, it is head spinning, and overwhelming to think about all of the societal and democratic norms he has either ignored or destroyed. With strokes of his pen, he’s laid off tens of thousands of federal workers, with no clear plan, and no compassion for these folks, many of whom have given their lives to public service.  He’s threatened judges and his billionaire buddy Tommy Tesla actually posted personal information about the families of those judges online. The president jokingly (or maybe not jokingly) talks about running for a third term even though this is clearly unconstitutional. And now the president’s tariffs are singlehandedly threatening to crash the economy.

I could go on….

Yet the truth that really scares me the most about this man and the minions and sycophants he’s surrounded himself with, is that they all seemingly do know how to blush. They seem to be completely unashamed of the chaos they create, the people they hurt, the immigrants they deport without due process, the families they split apart, or the government programs they lay waste to.

No shame. No embarrassment. No blushing. None.

You see to blush, you actually need to be centered in some type of moral world view, to be led by an inner moral compass, to embrace and practice values that align with what is communally understood as good and right and true. You have to have a sense of decency in how you treat others. But if you are immoral or amoral, if naked power is more important to you than service to the nation, if your only guiding principle is to do whatever it takes to petulantly punish your enemies, if you believe that you are ALWAYS right, then of course you do not feel shame or blush.

You are without shame. 

To seek to believe in and practice a faith in God means the opposite.  To practice what we preach, folks of faith try our best to live out the values of our faith, in my faith what I’d call “Jesus” values.  Be humble. Care first for the most vulnerable and innocent and powerless.  Be gracious towards your enemies and work with them for the common good.  Recognize that wealth might buy you everything on earth, but it will never get you into heaven.  The best life is about putting others, and not yourself, at the center of everything. Love your neighbor. Treat your neighbor as you want to be treated. 

There’s lots more to this moral code but the point is that it is actually a code. A philosophically coherent way of life. A way of understanding who we are supposed to be in this God-given life and how we are supposed to treat others. And when you break this code or fall short (which we all do) we may blush, knowing what we have done is wrong. And that’s ok.

But some public “servants” right now, the people we actually entrust to care for our country and we the people? Those “leaders?” They do not even know how to blush.

And that is terrifying.

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.