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Politi…what?

At this point, you are either saying “oh yeah, of course.  Polititudes.  Anybody with half a brain would know what they are.”  Or your are saying “he’s off his rocker.”

Polititudes – it’s a term I coined recently for a sermon I did.  You can read the sermon here.  The Gospel reading for that Sunday was the Beatitudes.  These are sayings attributed to Jesus that have the effect of turning the world-right-side-up – the way things are supposed to be.  You know them…”Blessed are the…” They are short, sweet, and to the point.  And also extremely difficult for this world to follow.

So I crafted the polititudes in contrast.  These are short, anything but sweet, sayings that Jesus would have never said…ever.  Yet, they are things that the world of partisanship hold to tightly.  So think of them this way – what if Jesus were a die-hard, drink the cool-aid, US Democrat or Republican?  These would be the things he would be saying, and the blind loyalists would be quoting him.  They deal with politics – more specifically, partisan politics and the lust for power over others, propping up party over anything else, and most importantly – beating the other side.  Because you know Jesus was all about “us” vs. “them” don’t you?

Here’s a sample of a few of the more popular polititudes:

Of course, it’s not just politics where the lust for power rears its head.  It can happen in church too.  Which makes some sense – church is an organization, with structure, and eventually some churches turn inward and are more concerned with survival of the status quo than they are with carrying out the mission of the church.  But I went down this road because I thought it would be more fun – bringing light to the ridiculous thoughts of party over God.

At any rate, I’m posting a polititude a day on a twitter account I started recently.  You can find my polititudes here:  https://twitter.com/ThePolititudes.  Or follow my twitter handle – @ThePolititudes.

But be warned.  If you’re loyalty to political party is a part of your identity, then you aren’t going to like these.  In fact, you might hate them.  You might have some choice words for me too.  Good.  My point in doing this is to show that as Christians, our first and primary loyalty is to God, not political party.  The polititudes are things that Jesus would have never said…ever.  Too often it seems as though some people, even some within the church, have their loyalties confused or mixed.  Politics and partisanship become the center of their universe.  That’s called an idol.

Enjoy them, Retweet them, hate them, ignore them.  You pick.  You’re smart people.  But let me offer this – if you don’t like this, or really hate this – before you respond, ask yourself this question:  why?  Why does a twitter account with made up sayings of Jesus about politics and partisanship bother you so much that you feel the need to respond (in anger or otherwise)?  Do you feel threatened?  Attacked?  What?  Then, when you’ve done some self-examination, feel free to respond if you like.  If you throw anger at me, don’t be surprised if I offer a prayer for you in response instead of engage with your raw emotion.  Blessings!