These past few months seem to be strange times for our
church and Christians in general. As
write this we are in the midst of a national election that is bringing up
powerful emotions in everybody. Some of
us fear a Clinton presidency will bring about the end of all that they hold dear. Others of us fear a Trump presidency will
bring about a police state to our county that will be complete disaster. Indeed, others of us lament the loss of civility
and the possible ending of relationships if people knew how we really feel. No wonder mental health professionals are
speaking of “election anxiety”. Like
the emotions generated by 9-11 and the economic meltdown of 2008, this anxiety seems
to be affecting large numbers of us.
What is a Christian to do?
Lots of voices in the culture are crying for me to as a
pastor speak out. The caveat is that this
is only if it is for their particular side, other opinions are greeted with
disdain and if I disagree any legitimacy I may have is automatically called in
to question. In North Carolina during the past few weeks both Franklin Graham of
Samaritan’s purse who supports Donald Trump and ELCA Bishop Timothy Smith who criticizes
Trump’s views on women, immigrants, and Muslims used the following quote to
argue for supporting their respective views.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak
out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not
speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak
for me.
-Martin
Niemoeller
You know it gets serious when people quote a pastor who
spent World War II in a concentration camp, worked with Dietrich Bonhoeffer to
make a place a for Christians who refused to belong to a church that accepted
the “Aryan Laws” and spent the postwar years trying to get Germany to grapple
with how their society went so wrong. Both
of these pastors from North Carolina are telling us Christians to be engaged
and to speak out, but what should we actually speak?
I will answer with another quote, this one from missionary
and theologian Leslie Newbigin:
“The business of the church is to tell and to embody a
story, the story of God’s mighty acts in creation and redemption, and of God’s
promises concerning what will be the end.
The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting
it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world.”[1]
In short, we exist for the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
As scripture will tell us, this is whether the times are
favorable or unfavorable. If Hillary
Clinton wins the election and Donald Trump loses, we live out the gospel and
help a wounded society. If Donald Trump
somehow pulls out a surprise victory, we witness Jesus and work as Christ's ambassadors
to a broken world. In addition to telling
the Gospel story, Newbigin uses the word embody so the gospel does not
devolve into a mere ideology. The
actions he describes should look familiar to those who walk on the path of
discipleship. Celebrating as
when we gather for worship or fellowship in what the bible calls koinonia,
it is God’s people gathering to live out the truth that we are one common
humanity in relation to God. Interpreting, such as when we read the
Bible and show how God’s story meets our story and the world we live in, and we
grapple with how best to navigate all these relationships. Finally, he speaks of enacting the
Gospel in today’s world, which means small acts of love which add up to become
grace for the afflicted.
This is not just a Spiritual Thing
about the Next Life
When we embody the Gospel, we start to live as if the
Kingdom of God is already here. We
welcome those world deems as unclean, we feed the hungry, visit the sick and
those imprisoned sharing words of hope and deeds of love that bring spiritual,
emotional, physical and intellectual comfort. We do this because this is what Jesus did in the
story of our sacred Scripture and because this is what Christ does today through
those inspired by the Holy Spirit who serve their neighbors and world.
Because the Gospel is holistic it will always be
political. Jesus was political; handed
over to the Romans and executed with a sign in three languages saying “the king
of the Jews”. His interrogation in John 19 is all about
politics, “so you are a king” replies Pilate.
There will be those extreme secularists who will argue we
have no voice or are just a voice among voices. Fundamentalists will say that we have
nothing to say outside of those who already belong to their tribe. Only if one becomes indoctrinated into their
rigid culture and adheres to their litmus tests of purity is one given a voice.
Christ will call us to a different
situation outlined in Scripture in such places such as Matthew 25. Our razor to cut to the heart of the matter
will be to ask questions such as how does the politics of the world affect God’s
children? It asks also questions like, who
has the most authority? Or, who is most vulnerable?
In Christ Alone
The real heart of the matter in this toxic emotional
environment engendered by the power politics of today is to ask the question
where does my loyalty as a follower of Jesus Christ ultimately lie? The biblical witness, and the witness of the
faithful agree; it is to Christ. Faithfulness to Christ is not synonymous with
patriotism, and is certainly not synonymous with loyalty to a political party. Conservative Evangelical leaders who have
made political party loyalty a litmus test for authentic Christianity have
created a pernicious heresy completely antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Liberal or progressive
Christians who castigate those who espouse conservative views conform to the
same worldly attitude. The prevalent attitude of our culture was
captured succinctly by journalist Matt Taibbi.
“Lie No. 1 is that there are only two political ideas in
the world, Republican and Democrat. Lie No. 2 is that the parties are violent
ideological opposites, and that during campaign season we can only speak about
the areas where they differ (abortion, guns, etc.) and never the areas where
there's typically consensus (defense spending, surveillance, torture, trade,
and so on). Lie No. 3, a corollary to No. 2, is that all problems are the fault
of one party or the other, and never both. Assuming you watch the right channels,
everything is always someone else's fault. Lie No. 4, the reason America in
campaign seasons looks like a place where everyone has great teeth and $1,000
haircuts, is that elections are about political personalities, not voters.” [2]
This is not the way of Jesus Christ; we are called to stand
against such thinking. A person who has as their ultimate concern the furtherance
of the Gospel will see the world differently than many. This person will also realize that my faith
relationship with Jesus Christ may lead me to have different concerns than they
do and that we can disagree in love. As
I once heard Shane Claiborne say, it is how we disagree as Christians that
really matters.
The world may not view this perspective as legitimate, but I
have met many Christians who hold views that cross firm party lines. One can find a follower of Christ, who
opposes abortion and the death penalty, who cares about the empowerment of
women and worries that our jobs are going overseas, who is ready to welcome the
refugee but worries about the size of government. In fact, if as a disciple of Jesus Christ your
views conform perfectly to a candidate’s or political party's, I would ask you to go
back to your Bible and think about things a bit more.
Hope for the World
My hope is that like the group that gathered around Jesus our
church will have people across the political spectrum who will work together
for the love of God, neighbor and world.
If you will vote for Trump, we invite you to be with us. If you will vote for Clinton we ask you to
join us. If you are frustrated with the
process, we really want to include you in our walk with God. We have no choice but to do this because we
exist only for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Be blessed
Pastor Knecht
[1] Newbigin, Leslie, Proper
Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (1995,
Grand Rapids MI Eerdmans) 76. Emphasis
added
[2] Taibbi,Matt “The Fury
and Failure of Donald Trump” http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-fury-and-failure-of-donald-trump-w444943
accessed 10-20-2016.
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