Category Archives: Politics

Church and Politics

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

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I had a wonderful conversation yesterday about church and politics.  It was wonderful because it wasn’t a typical discussion about church and politics.  It wasn’t a discussion about politics in terms of partisanship.  Rather it was a discussion about how politics and church are similar.

I contend that religion and politics are very similar.  Both attempt to communicate a compelling vision of an alternate future – a hopeful and hope filled future.  Politics does this in a secular sense.  Religion does this from a spiritual basis, or better stated, from the sense of shalom or wholeness.

Of course there are differences too, but I can’t help but see the commonality of these two things.  Actually, let me clarify.  The core foundations of these two things are similar and related.  There are principles that politics uses that also relate to church as well.  The differences come out in the specifics.  But these aren’t minor differences either.  In church, money is raised in order to be used to expand the kingdom of God, to declare Good News, to serve those less fortunate, to make disciples.  In politics, money is raised in order to secure or obtain a position of power and influence and expand the base of support to keep someone in power or to gain a seat of power.  That’s an oversimplification of course, but I don’t think it is far off.

I have been exploring the link between church/religion and politics for many years now.  Actually it’s the link between church and campaign politics.  I look forward to seeing where this goes in the future.  I also welcome your thoughts on the matter.  Do you see a link between these two things?  How so?  How not?  Do you have experience working in these two areas?  If so, how have you seen the two interrelated?

Telling it like it is about “telling it like it is…”

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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A some-what popular and trendy phrase right now is “telling it like it is.”  There are many who see leaders who “tell it like it is” as a top character trait that they look for in leadership.  Having this as a top trait raises some serious questions.

Typically “telling it like it is” gets translates as being politically incorrect in one’s speech, supposedly in defense of the “truth.”  In reality, the people who “tell it like it is” use it as an excuse to be rude, crude, obnoxious, and inhumane.  In a word – it’s an excuse to be a jerk.

When did it become acceptable to treat people you don’t like or disagree with in a manner that is rude or with little respect?  I can’t pinpoint the exact time, but it preceded the 2016 election.  Maybe it is attached to the reality television and the desire for quick and cheap fame.  Maybe it is tied to the decline of Christendom.  Maybe it’s tied to social media and the easy ability for everyone to have a voice.  Maybe it’s none of these, or all of these.  But really, it needs to stop.  It’s unacceptable.

When did it become acceptable for conspiracy theories to be treated on the same level as the truth?  I recently saw something about the people think that the mass shootings are fake.  Yes, there are people who think these tragedies are staged, with actors, all to advance some kind of a partisan political agenda.  This has the same level of legitimacy as the Flat Earth Society – the people who are convinced that the earth is flat and that there is some kind of conspiracy to hide it.

When did it become acceptable to treat victims of tragedy with disrespect and call their pain into question?  Whether you agree with kids from Parkland High School or not doesn’t matter.  They are human beings who have gone through a tragedy – let them speak if that helps them cope with what they have been through.  Give them room to speak.

When did it become acceptable to be a jerk?  Especially in an age in which society is making a major push to clamp down on bullying in schools.  Yet we have “leaders” who draw attention to themselves and their narcissistic attitudes by “telling it like it is” with their cruel words that don’t point towards the truth, but rather the emptiness of their own soul.

Matthew 15:18 states: “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.”

In other words, you shall know a person’s inner attitude and worldview based on the fruit of their words.  Just as a rotten piece of fruit would be thrown out as unhealthy, so should the words that sound like rot.

When “telling it like it is” become the dominant value, humanity and humility suffer and are held at knife or gun point.  We shouldn’t be surprised that the next step is  violence – from one group of people against another who don’t see the humanity in others because of the way they look, talk, think, live, or where they are from, or their sexual orientation.

We shouldn’t be surprised when “telling it like it is” produces a whole society of jerks who think that everyone has to listen to their rot and accept the way they treat people.

We shouldn’t be surprised that “telling it like it is” produces policies that promote Social Darwinism where only the strong survive and the weaker members of society are left to rot and die because they are in the way and they cost money.  We shouldn’t be surprised.

“Telling it like it is” – that’s what the temple leaders could have been described as doing when they said that it is better for one man to die on behalf of the people.  “Telling it like it is” – That’s what the lame and pathetic excuse the crowd hid behind when they shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”  “Telling it like it is” is just as deadly now as it was nearly 2000 years ago.

If you “tell it like it is,” you shouldn’t be surprised when you receive a negative response.  Nor should you whine and complain about your feelings getting hurt either.

Instead, maybe you should be surprised when followers of Christ actually carry out what they claim to believe – when they turn the other cheek, when they offer words of forgiveness, when they still love you regardless.  That doesn’t mean they are giving you a pass.  This is costly love – a love that stings the giver.  A love that allowed nails to be put into a wrist and feet.  A love that hung on a cross.  The words of this love produce life-giving fruit for all who hear them and take them in.  The words of this love give nourishment.

Let me be clear – “telling it like it is” killed Jesus.  “Telling it like it is” was the excuse that was used to openly mock Jesus as he hung on the cross.  “Telling it like it is” was the excuse given when the plot to kill Jesus was formed.  “Telling it like it is” was the excuse Rome used when it violently killed and destroyed anyone who got in its way.  “Telling it like it is” – this is the excuse that was used to demean and dehumanize others because of their skin color, religious belief, ideology, gender, family status, mental health, economic status, language, sexual orientation, physical ability, and anything else considered outside of the current definition of “normal.”  Good luck washing that blood off your hands if you insist on “telling it like it is.”

Go ahead and keep “telling it like it is” though.  Everyone will know what is in your heart – a bunch of rot.  But where is Christ, the one so many who “tell it like it is” claim to follow?

We would crucify Jesus again

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Theology

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If Jesus came back and walked among us in 21st century America, would we crucify him again?  I think the answer is yes, without hesitation.  And it wouldn’t take three years of ministry to get to that point.  I think it would sound similar to the Gospel of Mark.

When you read the Gospel of Mark from chapter 1, verse 1 all the way through chapter 16, you have this sense of urgency.  You don’t get the feel that Jesus did ministry for three years.  It feels as though Jesus is doing ministry for just a couple of weeks before going to Jerusalem.

In Chapter 8, halfway through, Jesus predicts his own death.  In chapter 9, he is transfigured.  In chapters 9 and 10 there are fights about who is greater among his followers and he predicts his death again.  And it is chapter 11 when Jesus enters Jerusalem.  But it’s not like the other gospels.  It’s a mockery of triumph.  Jesus doesn’t enter in on a trusted war horse after battle with his bloody sword, but rather on a colt that has never been ridden.  People are there waving palms yelling save us!  But they are thinking – save us from Rome!  And then he goes to the temple, but doesn’t do the normal sacrifice that a conquering general would do – he does some sightseeing and leaves.  It’s all very anti-climatic.  You can often count of Jesus doing the exact opposite of what is expected.

And that’s why I think we would crucify him again.

I can hear the crowds gathered at his “trial.”  The witnesses, especially those that claim to be his followers, would be offering testimony of how Jesus isn’t living up to expectations and doesn’t fit into the culture.  The cries of Jesus being unpatriotic or unloyal to the established norms of society or either one of our political establishments would be loud.

Jesus would be asked which side of the political landscape he owes his allegiance and loyalty to.  And he would be silent.  The outcry would be great.  People would be repeating Pilate’s question to Jesus – “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” (Mark 15:4).

Jesus, are you a Democrat or Republican?  Jesus, why aren’t you wrapping your message in the flag?  Jesus, why aren’t you worshiping the Constitution?  Jesus, why are you not protecting yourself with the second amendment?  Jesus, why aren’t you more vocal in support of the troops?  Do you not think that America is blessed by God?  Jesus, why aren’t you more like us?

Jesus, is your ideology left or right oriented?  Jesus, why aren’t you more vocal in support of unrestricted abortion and the freedom to do what we want, when we want with our bodies?  Jesus, why aren’t you fighting the tax cuts?  Jesus, why aren’t you proclaiming the necessity of larger government?  Jesus, why aren’t you lobbying for more government regulations?  Jesus, why aren’t you more like us?

I envision Jesus’ “triumphant” entrance into Washington, DC would be similar to the Gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus entry into Jerusalem.  People would try to claim Jesus for their own agenda.  They would misunderstand who he is and what he was about.  We already do this.  The problem is we can’t claim Jesus – he claims us.  But that’s awfully uncomfortable and inconvenient.  We prefer to have a Jesus, a savior, that doesn’t demand we change our lives, our beliefs, our actions, our loyalties.  We prefer a Jesus, a savior, that looks like us, thinks like us, supports the same policies and politics as us, and has the same allegiances and loyalties as us.  We want to claim Jesus for us.

Once in the city, he would make his way to our modern-day temple – the capitol building.  It takes the center stage and is the center of all of life in the city.  The business of politics consumes our attention.  The high priests of politics tell us what we can say and do and how to offer sacrifice and who our enemies are.

Once he enters this modern-day temple, he would look around and decide it was late, and leave, unimpressed.  He would show that our ways are flawed.  He would show that what we fight about is flawed and broken – often a distraction.  He would show that our loyalties are misplaced.  He would do all of this without saying a single word.

And when people realized that Jesus wasn’t going to play by their rules, that he wasn’t going to advance a broken system that flops between left and right, they would rise up in anger.  They would do this because they couldn’t claim Jesus any longer.  And so, he’d have to be removed.  He would make life too uncomfortable. We can’t have a savior who makes us question our priorities and beliefs.  We can’t have a messiah who calls on us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him.  But no worries, we have plenty of other “messiahs” to take his place. They have their own slogans.  They are the hope and change we believe in.  They are the ones who are going to make America great again.  We elect a messiah-like figure every four years.  One that we can shape and mold as we see fit.  One that can be a perfect scapegoat for all our failings when things don’t go our way.

Jesus would probably be found with outcasts – proclaiming Good News to them.  He would be in the streets with the homeless, the drug addicts, the prostitutes, and the poor.  He’d be in the hospitals accompanying people in sickness and on their journey towards death.  He’d be visiting prisoners on death roll and maybe even telling some of them that today they would be with him in paradise.  That’s probably where they would find him when they came to put him on trial.

Would we crucify Jesus again?  Have we really changed in 2000 years?

This is why Jesus came. To bring Good News.  To comfort the afflicted.  To afflict the comfortable.  This is why he contended with Death and Sin.  To conquer them and to begin the unfolding of God’s reign.  It’s a slow unfolding for us in time – or so it seems.  Death and Sin continue to wail.  But their time is coming to an end.

As we approach the passion of Jesus – his suffering, death, burial, and ultimate resurrection – let us remember that Jesus didn’t just come for a sinful and broken people some 2000 years ago.  It wasn’t just the crowd 2000 years ago that screamed a vengeful, angry scream of “Crucify Him!!! Crucify Him!!!”  It wasn’t just Pilate who attempted to wash his hands of the blood of Jesus.  It wasn’t just the soldiers who hammered nails into Jesus wrists and feet.  It wasn’t just the criminals who were crucified with him that mocked him.  It wasn’t just the people who observed and the leading authorities that openly mocked him.

They are us.  It is us who are standing in the crowd yelling “Crucify Him!” with our anger and fear.  It is us who are attempting to wash our hands of his blood.  It is us who put the nails into Jesus.  It is us who mock him.  It is us who want to manipulate and craft Jesus into our own image.  We are no better.

Get ready to be uncomfortable and inconvenienced.  Jesus has a tendency to do that when he claims us.  But it is only in experiencing the death of something that we truly appreciate and understand what resurrection is all about.  Jesus didn’t answer the criticism and accusations because it would have been a waste of time.  Instead, he was focused on something far more important.  Something that still impacts us today.

War

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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What’s the deal with the emphasis on war?

We seem to have this weird fascination with war.  Politicians are always looking for wars, or at least talking about them.  We attach a great of glory to war – go to a battleground and you can feel the hallowed-ness of the ground.  The shedding of blood makes that ground a bit more sacred apparently.  But why was blood shed?

We glorify war in our entertainment.  There have been books written on this, so I won’t.

We even make sports a safer version of war.  We get statements like – warriors, gridiron battles, the offense slaughtered and routed the other team, etc.

Last week the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave talked about the future possibility of war in space and how we need a space force.

We’ve had other presidents who talked about war – from both parties.  We’ve had an ongoing war on poverty, war on drugs, war on terrorism.  Yet, these never-ending wars just go on.  They never end, they just continue to suck up resources.  We seem to be in a constant state of war – one that out lives the men who launch these wars.

The Romans worshiped Mars – the god of war.  War was good for Rome, until it wasn’t.  In war there was the opportunity to have an enemy and a scapegoat.  In war there was an opportunity to generate wealth and work.  In war there was the push for unwavering patriotism and unquestioning allegiance – wouldn’t want to be unpatriotic would you?  You might end up being seen as an enemy.

Instead of all the wars, maybe we should recognize that the only thing we get in war is death and destruction.  No one really wins.  Maybe we should try a different approach to tackling these things.

How about we try recognizing the humanity of people?  I know this method is risky.  It’s risky because it is rarely ever tried, and never fully tried.  But maybe we should give it a chance.  I know that we’ve only been trying war as a way to solve our problems for a short time – only a few millennia.  But maybe we could just pause our wars for a bit, and try a different way to solve problems.  What do you think?  Can we try it?

What is greatness?

16 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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What is greatness?  I imagine it’s one of those things that you know it when you see it.  But what is it really?  Part of it will depend on the characteristics of greatness.  Many different people lay claim to the word, but have very different definitions and characteristics of what greatness is.

There is a certain political leader who adopted the word great right into his campaign slogan.  Based on what I hear from him, he defines greatness = power.

Others define greatness in terms of wealth.  Sports people will define greatness in terms of records broken.

How do you define greatness?

How would you define it in terms of politics, social policy, governance, finances, sports, work?  Is it great to deport people and tear families apart?  Or would you rather say that it is great when we enforce the immigration laws that exist?

Is it great to build a wall to keep foreigners out?  Or is it great to build a wall to keep people in?

Is it great to govern from a mentality that only the strong deserve to survive?  Is it great to ignore the cries of the poor and homeless?

Is greatness defined by how many enemies we can kill?  Is greatness defined by how much material wealth we can accumulate in our lifetime?  Is it great then to have to turn it over to someone else when we die?

Is it great to shout over your opponents, be disrespectful, and label and dehumanize your opponents?

Is greatness the ability to constantly draw attention to yourself?

Is greatness defined by military might?

Is greatness defined by how many people become reliant on you?

Is greatness defined by license to do whatever you want, with who ever you want, when you want?

If you look through human history, you would see that the “great” empires of the past could all lay claim to many of these definitions of greatness – Babylon, Egypt, Rome, Greece under Alexander, and more.  They might differ on some of these, but they share one thing in common – they all fell eventually and left a big mess for others to clean up.  And they brought ruin to those they conquered and eventually ruin on their own people.

That is because greatness can never ultimately be found at the end of a rifle or in mandatory compliance and unwavering allegiance.  Greatness isn’t found in blindness to the needs of others.  Greatness isn’t found in being able to beat other into submission.

Greatness comes in a different way.

Jesus had a definition of greatness.  In Mark 10:43, Jesus states, “Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.”

Greatness comes in being a servant and in participating in the unfolding of the kingdom of God.  It goes far beyond human made national boundaries and weapons.  It goes beyond wealth, records, and political parties and slogans.

Greatness comes in living out our faith, not in subjugating faith to ideology.  When ideology is our foundation in life, we have built a life and a nation on a weak foundation that will crumble and eventually fall.

God has a different standard for what is great.  And it is a great standard that Jesus modeled and calls on us to follow.  Be great.

New Podcast!

15 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Podcast, Politics, Theology

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Friends, my good friend Moses Robson Kavishe from St. Paul Lutheran in Carlisle, PA and I created a new podcast that we’re going to do on a regular basis. It’s called “Everything’s on the table.” And since everything is on the table, we decided to start right in with a controversial issue – gun violence. We attempt to take a different look at it. You can find the first episode at a new website – www.pastormatthewbest.com. If you have an idea for a topic, you can leave it in the comment section of the website or e-mail topicsonthetable@gmail.com

You can find this specific episode at the following address:

https://pastormatthewbest.com/2018/03/14/blessing-assault-rifle/ 

Thanks and blessings to you all.

Scapegoating still happens

02 Friday Mar 2018

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Scapegoating is taking the sins of a community and placing them on something or someone and driving that person or thing out of the community.

It’s roots go back to ancient religious practice.

But it is still practiced regularly today.

Scapegoating is used because the community needs to relieve itself of its guilt and sin.  It needs someone or something that it can place all the blame and sin into and onto.  It needs the attention and pressure that is on the community to go somewhere else.  It needs to move the guilt and sin to someone else – someone or something that can be classified as “bad.”

The benefit for the community is that it gets to wash its hand clean from the blame and sin from within.  The most famous example of this is Pontus Pilate washing his hands over the soon to happen crucifixion of Jesus.  Scapegoating means that the community can fool itself into believing that it is not guilty, that it is sinless, and not blameworthy.

Never mind that the object or person being scapegoated is ruined – that’s the point.  Someone or something has to suffer the consequences of the sin.  Someone or something needs to feel the wrath and the community is protecting itself from that.  That isn’t innocent blood anyway – its guilty blood.  Never mind the ripple effect either.  Never mind that people’s lives are ruined.  What is most important is that the community feels better about itself, that it did something, and looked good doing it.

Scapegoating especially happens during highly stressful situations and around highly stressful and difficult “topics” – such as race, sexuality, nationality, poverty, wealth, education, and more.

There are many problems with scapegoating.  The biggest problem is the belief that the community is innocent.  It isn’t.  The people in such a community have skeletons in their closet – things they would rather not talk about or deal with.  It’s too painful for them.  They may be required to acknowledge their own guilt – to consider the blood that is on their own hands because of policies or politicians they supported and the consequences of their policies, allegiances and loyalties they have.  While we may not agree with the policies we are governed by, and in fact we may be very opposed to them, how complicit are we?  How much responsibility do we bear if we continue to swear allegiance and swear our loyalty?  How innocent are we?

The other problem with scapegoating is that it isn’t permanent.  It is only a temporary relief of anxiety and stress.  Our guilt and sin will haunt us again because we have not really dealt with them.  It will rear its ugly head at the most inopportune time.  And we will have to seek out another scapegoat.  It’s easier than examining ourselves and seeing how we are to blame ourselves or make these systems possible or continue to prop them up by the way we live.  It’s easier to relieve the pressure than it is to be honest with ourselves, to repent and seek forgiveness, and make real changes.  It’s easier to kill the scapegoat than to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow God.

Rest in peace scapegoat.  You won’t be lonely for long.  There will be others who will join you.  Just know that you will continue to serve a deeper purpose – to be a painful reminder of the sin of the community.  One that is unresolved.

Who do you say you are?

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

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When we meet someone for the first time, we typically ask some basic questions – who are you?  Where do you live?  Where are you from?

When we get past the niceties, we move to some deeper things pretty quick – more of our identity – who we say we are.  What we claim in the area says a great deal about ourselves.

Many will define themselves by the work they do, or their place in their family (ie Father/Mother, etc).

Some will identify themselves by their faith.  Some by their allegiance to a sports team. (Surprisingly, you can learn a lot great deal about a person from their sports allegiances, but that is for another blog post).

There seems to be an increasing number of people who are identifying themselves based on their political allegiances.  I don’t have any solid data to point to here, but more my own observations.  So, I can certainly be way off here.  It could just be a coincidence that I come across more people lately who are expressing who they are based on their politics.  I hope that is the case.

A political identification can be helpful – don’t get me wrong.  It can be useful information for the other person, just like any of the other identifications.  It gives a person some information to determine how similar or different another person is and also how to approach the other person.

For example, if you are a staunch Democrat and you are introduced to a hard-core conservative Republican and you both openly identify yourselves as such, then you have both gained some valuable information.  The question is what you do with that.  In this instance, it would make the most sense to avoid the subject of politics as you know it could spiral out of hand quite quickly.  Neither of you are going to convince the other of anything and if you are honest, you probably aren’t open to being persuaded either.  At least at this initial meeting.

Which leads to the more important point – The reason why neither of you would be persuaded is because you don’t really know the other person as a person.  You have no relationship with the person – why would you listen to something so important as politics, which you have claimed as part of your identity?

It would only be after establishing a relationship, based on mutual trust and respect, that you would open yourself to hearing the other person, their ideas, beliefs, and values.  And they would listen to you as well.  But at this point in a relationship you aren’t interested in trying to be right and convincing the other person that you are right and they are wrong.  Instead, you are more interested in learning how the other person came to their conclusions.  You care more about the person, than in being right.  The relationship becomes more important than the politics.

I would argue that this would be true for other areas of identification too – religion, sports, work, etc.

But the challenge with this is that it goes against our current culture – the culture of the immediate.  Relationships take time – a real investment of time.  Relationships require being vulnerable, open, and respectful.  They take work.

And all of that is difficult in an environment that doesn’t encourage people to trust one another.  Our current political culture and the leaders who foster this environment, are nurturing a culture of distrust between people.  When we don’t trust one another, it impacts a great deal of society and how society functions or doesn’t function.

It is easy to blame our political leaders for this.  It’s easy to scapegoat them and vote them out and send in new people.  But I think that would only be distracting ourselves from dealing with the real problem.  And that is us.  If we looked inward at ourselves, we would see a whole lot of mistrust.  Do we trust other people?  Or do we live in fear?  Right now, the answer to that question seems to be that we live in fear and mistrust.  And so we elect people who are just bigger expressions of this.  We want them to implement policies that calm our fears – or at least seem like they do.  We want to feel safer and better.  This is what most policies do – they medicate us and our fears without actually solving the problem at hand.  We treat the symptoms, rather than the real diseases.

So, what’s the answer?  There’s a nice easy solution to the problem.  There’s a solution we could do right now to solve this.  Are you ready.  It’s recognizing that there aren’t nice easy and simple answers to the problems we face.  Problems in our culture involve people and people are messy and complex.  These problems simmer and brew and age over time.  And the solutions are going to be painful.  And we don’t like pain.  We don’t like sacrifice.  We want easy and quick.  And that is not a recipe for improvement.

At least not right now.  I continue to be hopeful though.  I continue to be hopeful as I meet people who recognize the complexities of life and culture.  I continue to be hopeful as I meet and talk with people who are committed to the long-term changes that need to be made and are willing to keep at it – slowly, but surely.  Many of the ills we face are systemic in nature.  Systems require great effort and cost to change.

And I believe that this starts with making investments in relationships.  Getting to know people – especially people who are different from myself in many ways.  To begin to understand who they are and why they believe what they believe.  And it is in understanding how we are different that we can search for and find the things we hold in common.  And that is where things start to change.  We have to start somewhere.  This is as good a place as any.

Hellbent on us vs. them

22 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in Politics, Society

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America seems hellbent on forcing people into choosing sides. Us vs. them. This is not new though. It’s been here since the founding of the nation. It’s just that at times this desire for separating and the forced choosing or placement on a side is more prevalent than other times.

Which is really amazing when you think about it. We are a nation that prides itself as the land of freedom and choice. Yet, when it comes to important decisions that affect our society and culture we are forced to pick between two flawed choices. Offering a third option doesn’t even register as a legitimate or rational option for so many.

Are we really for choice and freedom then? Are we open to actually allowing people to present other alternatives? Or are we so concerned with conformity that we mouth the words of freedom and display the symbols of freedom and yet demand conformity to the established choices presented?

We are told that we have to pick a side. If you pick one side, it automatically means you have to be against anything from the other side. Even if the two sides switch positions on a issue. That’s fine, you just adopt the argument they were using. It’s not about the issue after all. It’s about something deeper.

This is not normal or rational. It has been going on for a long time, so it might seem normal, but if we are honest with ourselves we would recognize that we are complicit in all of this.

But not everyone complies with this. Nor should you. Complying with this mentality is similar to being forced to decide how you want to be killed – by hanging or by gunfire. Why would anyone willingly participate in this decision. Yet it seems that many are willing to do just this.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are other options. But we have to be willing to let go of a broken mindset and system.

Are you willing to go against the grain? Or would you rather maintain a broken idea because you fear the consequences?

In presenting this, you can see how easy it is to fall into this mode of thinking and see it as normal.

But it is not. There are more options. They are right there waiting to be embraced and tried. I dare you to think differently.

“That’s what Christians are supposed to do…”

19 Monday Feb 2018

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“That’s what Christians are supposed to be doing…”

This is the phrase a non-religious friend of mine said when we were talking yesterday.  We were talking about ways to tackle homelessness and I had the opportunity to share with my friend what the good people at St. Stephen Lutheran Church were undertaking – doing ministry over at the Flying J – making sure people had access to showers, laundry, and food.  We spoke for several minutes about some other opportunities we were considering and the many possibilities that existed to make an impact in the lives of people who needed help – including getting people connected with resources and professionals that could help them.

That’s when my friend said those words that caught my attention.

And revealed something insightful to me as well.

How are we Christians known and what are we known for?  Are we known because of a sect of Christianity that seems more concerned with aligning with political power – if so, then we have our focus in the wrong place.  If this is the most important thing that we Christians do, then there is something seriously wrong with our Christianity and with our faith.

I don’t buy the notion that Jesus died for our sins so that we could align ourselves with one or the other political party in the US in the 21st century and treat our political opponents in a very non-Sermon on the Mount way.

The old hymn says that they will know we are Christians by our love.  Not by our politics.  Not by our fear.  Not by our separating people into us and them.  Not into our allegiance and loyalty to a party, politician, or nation.  By our love.

Love acted out.  Love that this lived out.

It is time for Christians to act like Christians again.  Let me alter that – there are many Christians who do live out their faith and love.  They just don’t get the attention that many other Christians do who are more interested in making stupid comments about how we shouldn’t vaccinate our kids or that God is punishing some portion of the country through disasters because we don’t hate homosexuals enough or other such nonsense.

They will know we are Christians by our love.  They will know we are Christians by the care we give and offer the poor and outcast.  They will know we are Christians by using what we have been giving to help those in need.  They will know we are Christians by how we feed people.  They will know we are Christians by how we value people – all people.  They will know.  Why?

As my friend so eloquently stated – “That’s what Christians are supposed to be doing…”

It’s just so obvious.  It’s obvious to someone who isn’t even a practicing Christian that this is what Christianity is supposed to be about.  Why isn’t it obvious to practicing Christians?

As we heard in our Gospel lesson from this past Sunday – Jesus said.  “The time has been fulfilled.  The Kingdom of God has come near.”  The time is now for us to act like Christians.  God’s Kingdom is at hand.