Rumor has it there’s an election
coming up! If you haven’t already voted, I hope you’ve made plans to do so.
Elections matter, and, as Calvin understood clearly, followers of Jesus have a
deep responsibility to participate in civic affairs, including serving in
office and casting our votes for candidates willing to serve.
The low regard in which we hold
public servants these days is one of the sad ironies of the American experiment
in self-governance. I suppose that is both a symptom and a cause of the deep
political divisions in our society.
We may not share equally in creating
these divisions, but it is not false equivalency to say that we all share
responsibility for it. It is our society, and we shape its culture even as we
are shaped by it.
We have a responsibility – indeed, a
duty – to engage critically both the issues of the day and the individuals who
would lead us through them. Critical engagement is a faithful response to the
world.
Cynical disengagement is not. It
undermines the institutions that it pretends to critique, and it damages the
individuals who attempt to lead them. When deep cynicism becomes the default
response to express disagreement it short-circuits systems built on honest
accountability. Cynicism can never stand in for honest criticism, because
cynicism is fundamentally dishonest. As such, it is an unfaithful response to
the world.
A faithful response to the world
holds onto these honest truths, articulated by Steven Mattson at Sojourners this fall:
·
God is not
glorified by xenophobia.
·
God is not
glorified by sexism.
·
God is not
glorified by systemic racism.
·
God is not
glorified by rejecting the maligned.
·
God is not
glorified by fear, hate, shame, and pride.
We want to glorify God, but it is so
very easy to be so deeply cynical these days. The presidential campaign seems
designed to undermine trust in every candidate, and has devolved into a contest
destined to undermine trust in the outcome, as well. While I have clear
thoughts and strong opinions on the race (see the previous post), I have deep concerns about the
system’s ability to function well no matter who prevails next week.
As followers of Jesus, we must
faithfully proclaim some fundamental truths:
·
God is not a Republican. Or a
Democrat. Or a Green. Or a Libertarian.
·
Each of the candidates is loved by
God.
·
No matter who prevails, God
continues to reign in sovereign love.
This is true today, and it will
remain true on Wednesday morning.
No matter where political candidates
stand, God stands on the side of the poor, the marginalized, and the victims of
violence. If we want to be close to God, we must be close to those with whom
God stands. When we stand in those places we may be surprised to find folks
with whom we disagree politically standing there, too.
That is to say, no party holds a
corner on the market of political or policy ideas to address poverty, violence,
and injustice.
That is why I remain committed to
keeping the church wide open to people who hold a wide range of political
perspectives so long as they remain committed to engaging those core concerns
with compassion and love.
Standing together in those places where
God is calling we might just be able to see a path out of the cynical morass of
these days.
We stand together in worship,
remembering all of this. As we re-member, we are also working to put back
together a body politic that seem dismembered by cynicism these days.
So, come and worship!
