the Breakdown

So I'm sweeping my floor on a Saturday afternoon and I'm having one of those recurring inner dialogue moments, so why not blog about it. I've been thinking about the pharisees and their political agenda, not so much the specifics of it but the fact they had a very strong one. The Pharisees were basically a group who believed that ritual keeping was going to be a chief way the Kingdom of God was brought about. (not sure they used the term "kingdom of God" but the idea applies) That in and of itself is not a bad thing, we all have rituals and traditions we adhere to. The problem with the Pharisees wasn't so much that they were all about the law while they really needed to be about grace, a valid critique to be sure but not the main one. (it seems strange to me that this would be the issue since the Pharisees weren't familiar with the Christian notion of grace we have today) If I'm understanding them correctly the Pharisees were basically a group of people interested in their own agenda, not so much God's agenda. Jesus seems to blast them for following rules they made up along the way and missing the point of so much of God had already told them...love God and people...rules and agendas must serve that end, not the other way around. 

Ok, fast forward to today. Certain christians are acting very much like Pharisees concerning politics. There has been a group of people who created a political agenda and said that if that agenda were realized then we would be a Godly nation. For example, gay marriage. Conservative Evangelicals (not necessarily a bad thing to be by the way) have said gay marriage is undermining traditional marriage, going against God's plan for families and just plain bringing us down. They created an agenda around this issue and have been working that plan for some time. I have no problem with the conservative political view on this issue except when it's used as litmus test for the sincerity of people's faith. I mean if you don't agree with that all the faults laid at the foot of the homosexuals then somehow your not a christian to a lot of conservative evangelicals. The issue with this type of agenda has been it's narrow focus on certain ways of being Christian and certain ways of expressing that in the public arena. This, to me, sounds an awful lot like the Pharisees. A focus on rules and a certain political agenda made up by people to decide who's in and who's out in Christianity. 

My hope is that all this silliness is behind us in trying to use politics as a test for the sincerity of our faith. (although I doubt it is, I still have hope) I believe political stances are important and, in some cases, need to be strong. We must influence politics with our faith but we can't judge others because of their different opinions. Feel free to debate, persuade and fight for your view but not at the expense of ostracizing and hurting others faith. This might help us to understand a bit better what Jesus meant when he said in Luke 17 that it would be better to "tie a millstone around your neck, and be thrown into the sea, than to trip up one of these little ones". 

Government or the Church?

The idea of the kingdom of God is a massive topic and it has been much misunderstood. It's not another place we will someday fly off to after life is done, rather it's God's real presence crashing into our world and forever changing it. In other words, we don't need to wait for the kingdom to arrive someday, it's available to us now because of Jesus Christ. This was the point of Jesus coming to us, to inaugurate a new reality by which the world would ultimately be redeemed...and we are now part of this already/coming reality. God wants to make all things new, redeem and restore all of creation, through this project of the kingdom of God...including our politics.

One thing this means is politics isn't inherently a bad thing and neither are governments. There's an idea out there (that I grew up under) that says the Church can and should take care of the worlds problems and government is really a distraction form that mission. (It’s a bit of a straw man, I know, but it will help make my point) It's a false choice to think we must choose between the church and government. I believe in the separation of church and state but not to the exclusion of one over the other. I believe the church needs government in our current context to accomplish many of the things God has called us to do. For example, the church can be there for victims of flooding but it can't repair broken levees. It also can't give health care to those who need it but can't afford it. The church simply does not have the resources for such things.

On the other hand the government needs the church. The problem with the church's involvement in politics has been one of identity. The church has tried to play the role of government far too much, especially conservative evangelicals. If we rightly remember our identity as members of God's kingdom we don't need to be the government, rather we can stand outside it and speak prophetically to those in power. We desperately need to reclaim our identity as kingdom members and specifically prophets. Our government needs kingdom members to speak out for values such as poverty, life and justice. We are not called to tie ourselves to a political party (although if you do it's ok) or pick some Biblical values over others. We must be wholly Biblical people in our politics, those in political power need us to be.

I believe in the separation of church and state, absolutely. But I don't believe in the separation of public life from our values, our basic values, and for many of us, our religious values. 

Jim Wallis 


More reading on the Kingdom of God

Back Again

I want to start blogging again with a narrower focus: politics. I hope to be able to write about this topic in relation to my faith with the goal of sparking discussions and deepening my own (and maybe yours too) relationship with and commitment to Christ. I sincerely hope some of my friends and family will join in, even if only in their minds. I feel an urgency at this time because we face a major election and also a real turning point in the history of faith and politics in this country. We are moving away from one sided politics in Christendom in the US and we need to do some soul searching. I hope you will join me in this search. There are others who are far more eloquent and apt to take on this subject, I only do it with the hopes of influencing my own sphere. Feel free to comment or not.