So this is a book I simply had to read. I expected to be challenged -- and I was, and I found myself changing my mind on some political issues of our day.
What I didn't expect was to become hopeful.
I'm a firm believer in the wall of separation between American politics and Christian faith. The state shouldn't be telling the Church how to live and worship and the Church shouldn't be telling the body politic how it should live and what it should do. I believe these things precisely because I follow Jesus Christ, not in spite of him. What I didn't expect was to find myself challenged -- and changed -- by my encounter with Ryerse in this book.
We have very similar ideas about Jesus and what he taught. Nowhere does Jesus say that we should blame the poor for their circumstances. Nor did he ever say to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others if it mean less financial security for you. Yet I see these ideas being shared by Christians. That, "If only those people would do what I did, they wouldn't be poor". Or "We can't help everyone". I get it. We can't necessarily help everyone, but we also shouldn't, as a nation, make life harder for people in their own countries with our policies.
But that is exactly what happens when our president rails about trade deficits with countries like Mexico. Mexico has a population of less than half of the United States and a GDP per capita of just $9,670 vs. our $62,794. It is unconscionable to expect a nation of impoverished citizens to buy the same amount of US products as we do from them. It is also very unchristian. Nowhere will you find Jesus demanding the poor buy more of your products in order for you to buy more of theirs. That is not how Christianity works.
So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ryerse is the kind of Christian who thinks Christianly about these things -- and thinks about Jesus in the way I think about Jesus.
Christianity isn't about getting rich. It's not about ensuring that you're more comfortable than the less-fortunate. But I also, along with Ryerse, understand that when Jesus says things about poverty, he isn't talking to the state. He wasn't talking about government. He was talking about people to a certain group of people who are convinced they need to follow Jesus in the world.
And, like Ryerse, I'm tired of folks who don't get that. I'm tired of folks who try to hold human beings hostage to political pundits, to political persuasions, to political problems. This is why Ryerse identifies as an "Eisenhower Republican" -- a "progressive" in the sense that he is committed to the vision of the Republican leaders of the past, and committed to moving that vision forward.
For a long time, I wanted to blame the two-party system. But then I read Running for Our Lives. And I began to see that the problem isn't that simple. There are political causes, but there are social ones, too. Like the 24-hour news cycle. Cable news has set the modern American political narrative in an "us vs. them" narrative so as to secure viewers and ratings.
This gave me something to think about. And I think he's right. Which brings me to the heart of the book:
Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and others as we love ourselves. This is not two commandments, but one, a unified vision of love. It is recognizing that when we love others, we love God. When we feed the hungry, visit the incarcerated, welcome the stranger, and care for the sick, we are serving not just other people but Jesus himself ... In fact, maybe the most loving thing I can do when I enter the voting booth is to cast my ballot not for my own interests but for the common good.Bottom line? This is a fast, engrossing read that no one should overlook -- least of all in an election year.
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I was provided a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review here.