If there were any one, particular struggle I have these days with being a Christian, it's politics. Since it's an election year fraught with so much division over so many would-be (false!) American messiahs, I find it hard to take the Church seriously when the Church wants to endorse any one of those particular false messiahs. I've been thinking about this for days now, and I'm quite glad that the Church doesn't have a response to those cronies, other than to point to the real Lord of lords and King of kings.
Which leads me to say this: Perhaps the one thing the Church can give American politics is prayer.
I mean that.
Prayer is disruptive.
The divine voice interrupts our egoism and selfishness with a still small whisper to remind us that we are not the center of the universe. As the Church, we pray for our enemies and those who mistreat us. That is what I mean when I say that prayer disrupts. Egoism makes us seek revenge. Prayer reminds us that, "But for the grace of God, there go I".
Nothing can get in the way of being a good American so much as Christian prayer.
Which is why I don't want Christians to confuse American politics for the politics of the Gospel. The bad news of the American political party system these days can never be the Good News of Jesus Christ. That's something American Christians find hard to swallow. Conservative churches think that the Gospel means stopping abortions. Liberal churches think that the Gospel means securing gay marriage. I believe in both of these things, in a way, but as important as something like voting is (which in our plutocracy is not all that important), it is still not how one practices the Gospel.
So, no, I won't be getting mired down in the bog that is American politics.
I saw a friend of mine's post on Facebook recently in which he advertised a spare room to any Syrian refugee who wanted to live there. This person votes, or at least I think he does, but as long as he is doing things like that, I do not think the way he votes in the November presidential election matters as much as some people believe it matters. Taking in the alien and the stranger is a greater act in the name of the Kingdom of God than pressing a button at the ballot box. This is what I mean when I say that voting happens every day, in so many ways, and in ways that matter far more than one's political party affiliation or the individual we nominate to represent us in a democratic republic.
I still don't have a good answer for whom folks should vote for president.
Mostly because, well, I don't care who's running for president. I don't trust a donkey or an elephant nearly as much as I trust the Lamb.
There are plenty of issues that readers know where I stand. There are others, I'm sure, that I've kept much closer to my chest. When I wax "political" I hope I'm always pointing to Jesus and so I don't care if folks really aren't sure which box I'd fit into come November. I'd rather speak in generalities, because generalities are the only way Americans know how to speak about politics these days.
Instead, I'll just keep praying. Because prayer is specific. I think maybe, in the absence of clear directives about how to vote or protest or something, we Christians in America can just keep praying. We can pray for the victims of aggression and violence, committed both in the name of a false caliphate, in the name of freedom, and in the name of Jesus Christ. If we do that, we'll have said everything that needs to be said by November.
Which leads me to say this: Perhaps the one thing the Church can give American politics is prayer.
I mean that.
Prayer is disruptive.
The divine voice interrupts our egoism and selfishness with a still small whisper to remind us that we are not the center of the universe. As the Church, we pray for our enemies and those who mistreat us. That is what I mean when I say that prayer disrupts. Egoism makes us seek revenge. Prayer reminds us that, "But for the grace of God, there go I".
Nothing can get in the way of being a good American so much as Christian prayer.
Which is why I don't want Christians to confuse American politics for the politics of the Gospel. The bad news of the American political party system these days can never be the Good News of Jesus Christ. That's something American Christians find hard to swallow. Conservative churches think that the Gospel means stopping abortions. Liberal churches think that the Gospel means securing gay marriage. I believe in both of these things, in a way, but as important as something like voting is (which in our plutocracy is not all that important), it is still not how one practices the Gospel.
So, no, I won't be getting mired down in the bog that is American politics.
I saw a friend of mine's post on Facebook recently in which he advertised a spare room to any Syrian refugee who wanted to live there. This person votes, or at least I think he does, but as long as he is doing things like that, I do not think the way he votes in the November presidential election matters as much as some people believe it matters. Taking in the alien and the stranger is a greater act in the name of the Kingdom of God than pressing a button at the ballot box. This is what I mean when I say that voting happens every day, in so many ways, and in ways that matter far more than one's political party affiliation or the individual we nominate to represent us in a democratic republic.
I still don't have a good answer for whom folks should vote for president.
Mostly because, well, I don't care who's running for president. I don't trust a donkey or an elephant nearly as much as I trust the Lamb.
There are plenty of issues that readers know where I stand. There are others, I'm sure, that I've kept much closer to my chest. When I wax "political" I hope I'm always pointing to Jesus and so I don't care if folks really aren't sure which box I'd fit into come November. I'd rather speak in generalities, because generalities are the only way Americans know how to speak about politics these days.
Instead, I'll just keep praying. Because prayer is specific. I think maybe, in the absence of clear directives about how to vote or protest or something, we Christians in America can just keep praying. We can pray for the victims of aggression and violence, committed both in the name of a false caliphate, in the name of freedom, and in the name of Jesus Christ. If we do that, we'll have said everything that needs to be said by November.