I don’t have answers here, but I’m
curious to find out how many people in our churches think the Pastor should
avoid any political subjects in their sermons (and by extension keep politics
out of issues of faith), and compare that with those that feel faith does
indeed have a place in politics.
What role does the Gospel message
play in our “public” lives? To what
extend should our faith play in the world of politics? Is
there a “non-filtered”, unbiased, way of seeing not only the message of Jesus
Christ, but the prophetic message of the Living God through the bible? What is the message to the people about how
we are to live and what we are to do?
I’d be curious what the break out
looks like in terms of political persuasions, party affiliation, participation
in a church (and denomination/theological flavor!), age and gender differences,
etc. How many of us feel moved to work
towards a more egalitarian society regardless of our faith? How many of us would feel more compelled to
maintain the status quo regardless of whether we participated in church or
not?
I’ve always been interested in
“people”; in what consciously, and (more interestingly) unconsciously, motivates
and inspires us in as we go about our work in the world. As a former Political Science student, and
now theologian, I find these questions intriguing.
So let’s jump into the deep end of
the pool… What values do we hold as
seminal to our faith? Yes, we may say we believe in something… but when we
get to our core we may actually value something else entirely. And the follow-on question; how aware are we
of our values?
For example – Is our deeper/deepest
value to maintain the status quo (perhaps because we benefit from it)? Or is our deeper value to build a more
egalitarian community? (Even if it may negatively
impact us personally?)
I asked the first question at the top
of this post as a theologian struggling to interpret the message of Faith in my
present circumstance.
The foundational
theological questions are… What do we
believe is the deeper message of Jesus?
What is the fundamental call of God to us today? And how does this play out in our “real
world”? …In what we say about our future as a society…
about politics?
I’ve often struggled to discern the deeper
issues of life, both as a Human Being in general, and a Pastor in specific. I’ve been challenged by what I perceive as
the Call of Christ, but in this especially churning political time we find
ourselves in now, I am finding a little more clarity.
Why was Jesus killed? As much as we might tell each other how much
Jesus loved people, or how he forgave people…
or how much he hugged all those kids… he wasn’t executed for this. We’re so fond – on Sunday mornings – of
talking about how many people he healed, and how he was able to show God’s
forgiveness to so many, and how he changed their lives… (which is all probably
true)… but he wasn’t killed for healing people, or forgiving people… per
se. In fact, who would have a problem
with these things?
He was executed by the establishment
– by the powers that be – by the dominant powers of the day – by the forces of
Empire – for challenging the status quo.
He was executed, not for forgiving people per se, but for forgiving
people… and reducing the power of the temple system… the only official “forgiveness” system sanctioned by the religious
leadership at the time. In those times
there was no real distinction between religious and political elites/powers. They were all perceived as
God-ordained. So that place and era’s 1
% were the Temple leadership, religious leaders, and the monarchy (and the royal
court). And the Israelite/Jewish system
was backed and enforced by the larger
“power” system… the Roman Empire.
So when an (perhaps another) itinerant Jewish Rabbi comes
along and challenges this system by telling people they don’t have to go to the temple to experience God’s forgiveness…that
God’s grace can come to them outside
of the expensive and tedious system of power and control… in a time where any expression of independence from
these political and religious systems was seen as not only suspect, but
treasonous, you can sort of see how radical Jesus’ message really was! When Jesus says “Give to Caesar what is
Caesars’, and give to God what is God’s”… he was stating that Caesar wasn’t God…
which in itself was treasonous.
So in its era, these things were
completely connecting religion/faith and politics! Truth is, when we do faith actions in the world… we are not only putting our faith into
action, we are not only making a faith
statement, we are also making a political
statement!
Considering we are political creatures just as much as we
are faith creatures… let us investigate
if there are any differences between what we say we believe and what we actually
believe? What really are our deeper values?
What is at the core of our faith? Some
of us say Jesus call us to feed the poor, take care of those who have fallen
through societies cracks, to care for our version of the “orphans and widows”.
“Widows & Orphans” may be a
technical term, but does shed light on some of the most marginalized people of their
society. Women and children were not
really “people”. Well, yes, for sure
they were people in the sense of them
being members of the species. But what
they weren’t was fully free people. They
needed to have a man “sponsor” them – a free man to host them, care for them, be
responsible for them. Otherwise they
probably wouldn’t have a place to live, a way to get food, a way to live
well. In that society, not having a man
sponsor you made you more vulnerable to hunger and homelessness.
When a little girl was born (and boy
too, until he was old enough to be a man), she “belonged” to her father. It was her father that sponsored her home,
food, care, etc. It was her father that took responsibility for her care. When she was old enough
to marry, her father “gave her away” to her husband, another man who took responsibility to
care for her. If her husband died
before her, then the responsibility for her care fell to her (usually oldest)
son. If she had no sons, then she was
seriously at risk for a slow death; if no man took responsibility for her, she would
be at a loss of home, food, etc.
So, although there really were “Widows
& Orphans”… and God (through the prophets)
really did call the people to act with compassion for them and others for whom
society might have forgotten… they are also a symbol of those “left behind”.
Who are our “Widows & Orphans”? Who
are the people in our society most likely to fall through the cracks; to lose
their livelihoods, their homes, their means of survival, their ability to make
a living, to go hungry? Who are we
called to have compassion for? And how
do make sense of this call from Jesus to care for them?
We may understand God calling us to
care for the most vulnerable in our society.
And we may even think of ourselves as noble as we feed some people, or
help some people. But here’s where theory
and practice diverge – who is there in our lives that actually need help to get back on their feet, but we just not want to help are we just not able to help – Who
are the “Orphans & Widows” in our society we most definitely are not inclined
to show compassion for? Remember, this too is not only a faith
statement, but a political one as well!
If we just leave Jesus’ ministry to healing
sick people, casting out demons, and hugging children… we are totally missing the
deeper meaning of his work. He was
executed – a governmental act – an expression of power… of Empire – because he
was too political. He was executed for challenging
the system and structure of religious power, which was sedition – it disrupted the
balanced system imposed on the Israelites by Rome. He was executed for sedition, for fomenting revolution,
for resisting the power of Rome! He was
executed by Rome for making political statements through his words and
actions.
And here we are… either accepting the
idea that living faith actually calls us to make political statements – statements
about what we actually believe, through words and actions… or limiting “faith” to a kind of emotive feeling of
love from God.
So, what kind of “faith” statements
do we want to make about people that have fallen through our societal cracks; about
our neighbors, about strangers, Hispanics, migrants, inner city poor, and urban
hipsters, about stereotypical conservatives, or liberals, about bible-believing
fundamentalists, or atheists, about those on food stamps, about the functional mentally
ill, and the non-functional mentally ill, about inmates, and former inmates, about
the kids with ADD and those on the Autism Spectrum, and those with drug addictions,
about the 1 %, about Muslims, or Jews, “Dreamers”, about participants of Black Lives
Matter, or White extremists, about suburbanites… about any of our brothers and sisters that
cannot care for themselves, about those that need some help to get on their feet
again, about people needing some assistance to make ends meet, food to carry
them over between paychecks.
We don't question that Jesus calls us to "feed the poor"... this is not a problem. Many good church people take time to volunteer at places that actually do feed the poor. I can'e believe this is in any way discouraged among our congregations. This is part of what it means to be a "Good Christian".
But calling out systems that single out some people for "lift", while for placing obstacles in front of others is too "political".
The poor start off at a disadvantage. Their opportunities for better a education - one of the more accessible keys to better employment - are already compromised. People with limited or "non-competitive" education are often restricted to low(er)-wage jobs... which compromises their ability to maintain basic standards of living (further education, health care, adequate food and clothing and shelter).
We have the best judicial system money can buy; if you have the means and the access to good lawyers, your chances of doing time (or doing more time) are minimized. But if you struggle financially, your odds of doing time are higher. Our prisons are full of those with limited economic means. And when they get out, their opportunities to financially get ahead are even more limited because they have a "record".
These multiple discriminatory Systems affect Whites, Blacks, Browns... indeed anyone. They help some people of these ethnic backgrounds, and hinder others of these very same ethnic backgrounds. We're all affected.
If we believe Jesus, like other prophets, calls us to act for Justice, for Right-ness, then it's the right thing to call these systems out - to challenge them! It's not only the Christian thing to do, it's the right thing to do. Is this "political"? Absolutely it is!
An old and consistent charge from those with an investment in keeping "the system" the same! This was the same critique leveled against those that opposed slavery... against those working for Women's Suffrage... against those working for Civil Rights... and Equal Rights... and Gay Rights... and Prison Reform... and Education Reform...
"They're being too political!"
From Stephen Colbert:
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