Tag Archives: politics

Where is our faith?

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Theology

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For regular readers of my blog, you know that I have a long history of political activity.  I learned a great deal from those experiences and am grateful for that.  I also learned some things that make me glad I’m no longer in politics professionally.

Now that I’m in ministry, all that politics is brushed away, right?  Not.  Not even close.  In fact, in many ways, it’s much more difficult.  I have a fine line to walk when I preach and when I wear a collar publicly representing the church.

I’m not a big fan of pastors taking up partisan arms for a political party.  I can understand why some do, but I think it blurs the line of what we are.  Are we proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus or partisan political party?  Are we claiming that our faith is in Jesus, or in some politician in Washington, DC or another capitol?

This of course doesn’t mean faith and politics never intersect. I think that’s a big naive and dangerous too.  We are called to be in the world and call out injustice.  And often that happens in political ways.

When I see pastors that make excuses for politicians or political parties – for what they stand for, or the policies they promote – I have to wonder.  Are they a partisan preacher preaching the good news of political party with its vision for how the nation will look when the party has power?  I recently saw a video of a conservative pastor who was praising the current administration in Washington and made comparisons of the president’s leadership style with Jesus.  I’m not sure what that had to do with the preaching of the Good News, but I do know that it advanced the Gospel of the administration.

Likewise, I remember pastors equating the previous administration with Jesus too – labeling the president as a messiah-like figure.  Again, I’m not sure why that was necessary or how that promoted the kingdom of God.  It sounded more like the advancement of the kingdom of partisan political party.

Where does our faith lie?  Where is our hope?  If it is in Jesus, then partisan politics can be seen for what it is – secondary.  It is certainly not to be ignored.  But neither should we put all of our attention and energy to it either.  When we do that – when we obsess about politics and give it all of our attention, then we have made it into a god.

When our politics becomes the basis for our decision-making, when we feel the need to pay attention to every tweet and press conference and announcement from a politician or political party, when we believe that we will have a brighter future (almost heavenly) if only we fund a specific candidate and work to get them in office – then I have to wonder where our faith lies?  Where does our hope lie?  When politicians supposedly have all the answers to all of life’s questions and problems, then where is there room for mystery and faith?  What is the point of faith at all then?

Too often I have seen Christians who are well-meaning turn to partisan politics.  I get it.  I’ve been there.  Religion and politics are not very different at all.  Both offer a vision for the future – of what is possible.  Both deal with immaterial things.  Both offer a gospel message.  Both claim to be able to save people.

By all means, participate in politics.  It’s how we advance policies.  But be careful.  When politics becomes the center and the foundation for making decisions, for the way we live our life, for how we spend our money and attention, then know that we have just exchanged our faith in God with a faith in a broken humanity.

Health insurance

18 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Health, Humanity, Politics, Society

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There’s a big debate going on in the seat of government about health insurance – or “health care” as it is always called.  However, the two are very different.  Health care is what doctors and nurses and pharmicists and other medical professionals do.  Health insurance is how we pay for it.  But health insurance reform doesn’t sound quite the same as health care reform does it?

Is the Senate bill a good replacement for what our current system?  Is it worse?  Depends on who you talk with.

It leaves me with a few observations though.  These are things that I think we haven’t answered as a nation.  And because we haven’t answered them, any change we make to health insurance is not going to go over very well – no matter how it’s sold to us.  But keeping what we have currently isn’t a good option either, long term.  But we have to start somewhere right?

At any rate, here’s a few thoughts.

What is the role of government in our nation?  This has been an ongoing debate since the beginning – one that we haven’t answer yet.  You’d think we’d have an answer after 240 years right?

What is our vision for the nation?  Where do we want our nation to go as we move forward in history?

What is the relationship between the government and the people?  If government is the one responsible for providing health insurance, does it bother anyone else that we have distrusting relationship between people and government?

Why in the world is health insurance still attached to employment?  How does this even makes sense anymore?

I wonder what a reformed health insurance would look like if the extreme ends of the political spectrum were left out of the discussion and the folks in the middle made changes.  Would it be better?

How much do we really spend on paying for health care?  Is there a better way to do it?

Why do we in the US focus all of our attention on sick care as opposed to more focus on prevention?  Prevention ends up costing a whole lot less, and it means that people are healthier.

What does our American culture and mindset force us into concerning health care and health insurance?  In other words, what are the things that are unnamed and hidden from view that drive the direction of health policy – good and bad?  Are these things that can be changed?  Or are we stuck?

How we invest our time

07 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics

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How we invest our time matters.  It tells people what we actually claim is important.  There’s a difference between what we say is important and what we actually do.  What we do telegraphs to everyone what is actually important to us.

When you spend time with your significant other and constantly look at your phone, you are telegraphing to that person that the phone is more important than the person you are with – or rather that potentially someone else more interesting is more important than the person you supposedly care very deeply about.  Where we spend our attention is like purchasing importance.

This goes beyond individual relationships.  Imagine if we took the time we spend on politics and devoted it to something else?  Maybe service of our neighbors, or someone in need around us.  Or what if we spent that time with our families?  Or maybe our church or place of worship?  Or personal growth, or working, or exercising, or cooking really good food, or walking your dog, or just going for a walk, or running, or reading, or sleeping?

All of those are much better uses of time than the ridiculous volume of time, emotion, and attention that we invest ourselves in politics. I’m not arguing that politics is worthless and should be ignored.  But seriously, with our 24-hour news cycle, there really isn’t all that much actual news – most of it is fabricated fighting over things that don’t matter.

Here’s what politics ultimately is – a fight over who has power.  A fight over who is right.  A fight over who gets to determine what rules are made.  A fight over who the bad guys are.  A fight over who gets to spend other people’s money.  A fight over things you always thought there was common agreement for but now we aren’t so sure about that common agreement anymore.

Or do we invest as much time in politics because we are bored or afraid – bored with our lives or afraid to examine our lives?  Maybe.  Maybe our politics has become more entertainment than serious policy moves.  Regardless, most of the time we can skip most of the “news.”  It really isn’t news at all.  It’s anxiety development.

Freedom

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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Today is July 4th.  Here in the US we celebrate our Independence Day.  A day devoted to the idea of freedom.

But there seems to be a problem.

We, in the US are having a problem with a common understanding of what freedom is.  How do we define it, as a nation?  Depending on who you talk with, you’ll get a different definition.  Without a common understanding of some fundamental things that our country was founded on, we shouldn’t be surprised that we have some troubles in our nation.

It is disconcerting that there are different understandings of the idea of freedom.  Does this bother anyone else?  How is a nation supposed move forward and function properly and serve its people when we have two major political parties, and groups within those parties, who all have different understandings of what freedom means.  And that’s not counting those unaffiliated with either political party who see the parties as an obstruction to freedom with their very existence and who they promote for leadership.

So what is freedom?  On July 4th we think about political freedom.  But there are other freedoms – freedoms that have nothing to do with politics.  That’s because politics isn’t the end-all, be-all of life.

In religion we talk about freedom too.  It’s freedom from sin and death.  Martin Luther wrote about the freedom of a Christian – free to serve our neighbors.

Today we celebrate freedom, but what kind of freedom are we celebrating?

Searching for Messiah

05 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to make the statement that it appears that our society is in search of a messiah figure.  Too often that ends up being a search in the political realm of life – a search for a political and/or partisan messiah who will save the nation/party/etc.

I also don’t think that this is anything new.  We’ve actually been doing this for some time.  I remember when Obama got elected and all the adulation for him, with some going so far as to call him a messiah.

But this isn’t even an American sin.  Go back through history, the search for messiah and the foisting it on a human is ancient.  Emperors of old were considered gods sent to save their people.  But only their people. Everyone else is an outsider and doesn’t deserve saving supposedly.  And of course, that person died and then the search for a new messiah began.  It’s the story of human history.  And yet we think this time it will be different.

Maybe part of the reason we do this is because we don’t want to recognize that the Messiah looks far different from what we want.

The Messiah who saves us isn’t interested in nationalism or America first.  Just like the Messiah wasn’t interested in Israel first or any other nation first.  The Messiah didn’t come to save just a select few people – the Messiah came to save all of creation.

The Messiah who saves isn’t interested in advancing a political party in the 21st century.  At some point, all of these political parties and entities will die off and be replaced with some other sin-filled party or entity.  The Messiah isn’t interested in seizing and holding onto power, something that political parties and politicians live for.

Instead, Messiah has a different agenda.  It’s an agenda that calls us into a new relationship – a changed relationship.  A new relationship with one another, with God, with creation, with ourselves.

So often we want change, but we want those “other” people to change to be just like us. We love hearing the Gospel, but we think that a call for repentance is a call for other people to radically reorient, not us.  However, Messiah invites us to change as well.  How can anything else change is it doesn’t start by changing us, changing our hearts and minds, and then changing what we do and how we do it.

We don’t start this change, God does.  We do however have the ability to respond.  We have been given that by the Spirit who guides us to a new life and new relationships.  How will we respond – with fear? by setting aside God in favor of a god we choose who will be more concerned with power and separation?  Will we hear God’s call and follow, or will we decide that we think we know a better way – a failed way, a way that has been tried through most of human history?

I pray that this generation responds differently.  I pray that I have the courage to respond when God calls me to ways that the world thinks are insane – to respond with love, mercy, forgiveness, and peace.  That is the way of Messiah.

 

Jesus is calling…

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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Ring, ring…

Ring, ring…

(Humanity answers the phone…)  “Hello…”

“Yeah, it’s me…Jesus.  I have a few things to tell you.  I just have to get these off my chest.”

“So, I’ve been thinking.  I’m thinking that you all have a slight problem. Ok, a big problem.  Many of you claim to be my followers.  Yet, when I look around, I’m not seeing much following going on.  I’m seeing a lot using my name and pretending to be followers going on.  You know, the whole consumerism thing going on in the West.  Yeah, that’s not something I’m really about.  Remember how I taught to give away all the stuff that got in the way of following me?  No…I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, and about enemies.  You don’t seem to understand what I was saying.  I said to love your enemies.  Yet you seem intent on killing them.  But not with kindness…or love.  No just killing them.  I think we have a failure to communicate here.”

“Yeah and the poor, the marginalized, the persecuted, the defenseless.  Yeah, do I really need to go into detail here.”

“Oh, and you’re not going to like this one – putting country or political party above me is not my cup of tea.  We had this same problem in the past.  Just in case you haven’t learned this, no worries, you will.  The end result is always the same.  Country and party end up as something else.”

“Hello…are you still there?  Figures.  I’ll try again later.  Maybe you’ll listen.  Regardless, please hear this.  I still love you.  Even when you ignore me.  Even when you stop listening.  Even when you use my name but go on your own path.  Oh, and I’ve got you covered.  Just in ways you may not understand.”

“And for the few of you who are listening and doing your best to follow…thank you.  Keep it up.  Trust me, it’s worth it.”

“By the way, the dinner invitation every week stands. You can come to my place and you’ll be fed the best food and drink ever.  And we’ll talk about things that make you feel so very alive and ready to face the week. And of course the company will be interesting and sometimes challenging.  But like them, you’ll be my guest.”

“Talk with you again soon. Peace.”

(The call ends…)

Hey, let’s talk past each other

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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Have you ever been in a “conversation” where the other person just talks past you?  You know what I’m talking about – they say something, then wait for you to say something and while you are speaking, they are thinking of what they will say next.  They are concerned with either making a point, or shooting down your idea or argument, or having the last word.

This happens more often than we like to admit.  I’m not sure why though.

I wonder if social media has anything to do with this, or if it just a symptom of it.  I don’t know.  Maybe it has nothing to do with it.

When it comes to politics and religion, this happens a great deal.  We talk past each other on important and unimportant issues.  We talk past each other on immigration and health care and a whole host of topics.  Why though?  Are our beliefs about these things so shallow and weak that we can’t handle some questions and criticisms?  Do we believe that we must have all the answers and that our beliefs must be air tight?  Do we believe that if our opponent finds a weakness somewhere in our argument that the whole thing will fall apart like a house of cards?

This happens in religion and theology too.  We talk past each other when it comes to abortion, the existence of God, and high church vs. low church.  Why?  What do we have to gain by talking past the other person?

Talking past someone is a completely defensive posture.  In a sense, there is a belief that we have nothing to gain from the other person – nothing to learn.  We are afraid of losing something.  Here’s the real deal though – if this is your posture, you’ve already lost.  It’s just a matter of time until it all comes tumbling down.  You can’t survive by contracting and becoming smaller.  You thrive by expanding and growing.  Not necessarily in terms of literal numbers, but rather in terms of growing relationships, knowledge, wisdom, experience, being open and vulnerable.

So, what do you do if someone is talking past you?  Change things up.  Stop and ask questions.  Be honest about what is going on and confront the other person too.  Is there a willingness to change the conversation so it is really a conversation?  If not, you’re wasting your time.  If they are and you are, then you’ve just entered something great.

Confrontation

08 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Society, Theology

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We live in an age of confrontation.  Of course, I don’t think this is new.  I think it’s a part of the human condition actually.  A major part of humanity’s history and experience is based in confrontation.

My own country, the US, was founded on confrontation.  The founding fathers did not like how the British were treating them and so they fought them.  They created a system of government that included checks and balances – a nice way of saying that they didn’t trust people and that the best way to handle government was to create a system of constant confrontation.

For just about all of my adult life I have seen confrontation in politics and religion – two areas that are so important to many people’s identity.

The right didn’t like Clinton and impeached him. The left didn’t like Bush and called him an idiot and an evil genius at the same time.  The right didn’t like Obama and called him a Socialist.  The left doesn’t like Trump and what he stands for.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Leave the policies aside, if you can.  The only constant in politics is confrontation.  Who’s with us and who’s against us.

How do we deal with confrontation?  How do we deal with someone who thrives on confrontation?  I don’t have the magic answer.  Every circumstance will vary.  But here’s a guiding principle – how you approach the confrontation and how you react to it will play a big role in the outcome.

Here’s a simple (and I’m sure flawed) example. We have a just turned eight-year-old boy in our house, along with an older brother and two older sisters.  He’s the baby of the house and as you probably know, the littlest one is often the one who thinks they are in charge and gets what they want.

What if it’s something they shouldn’t have?  I’ve tried direct confrontation.  That doesn’t turn out so well – just a lot of anger from both him and me.

Instead, the times when things turn out well, there is a different approach.  It’s the times when I stop right at the beginning and become aware of what’s going on.  I realize that there is something he wants.  I start to ask questions, I don’t respond to the pitching of fits with my own fit.  Instead I talk calmly, or I do something that changes the situation – try to bring humor in to the situation.  Or I state what my position is, and leave it at that.  In the end, any of these responses usually turns out much better.  Sometimes my son even gets what he wanted all along, but it’s more a win-win situation.

Now, I know what I just laid out is different from the national political environment.  I’m not the one in power – the politicians are.  But here’s the thing – we can either act like my eight-year-old son and pitch a fit and get an appropriate response from those in charge.  Or we can act like adults, stop before we react to every little thing that comes down the wire, think through what we should do (if anything), and then carry that out.  Sometimes confrontation will be the best option.  I’m just not convinced that it is the best option as often as we use it in our society.

Being different in a world that requires you to pick sides

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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I’m going to clarify this a bit.  Not everywhere requires you to pick sides.  That’s because most of the world isn’t caught up in just two options.  It’s more an American thing.  We have this strange fascination with only offering two options for so many things.  It’s weird given how much we supposedly love freedom and choice.  But really, we pretty much love forcing people to choose one side or the other.

There are some exceptions of course – the most important being ice cream, but beyond that, most important decisions are limited to two “practical” sides.  Maybe this isn’t true across the board, but it seems true when it comes to things dealing with our identity.

You have left vs. right in politics, Democrat vs. Republican, liberal vs. conservative.

In religion here in the US, most people see the dichotomies of Christian vs. atheist, or conservative vs. liberal Christian, or fundamentalist vs. progressive Christian.

Even when we get into sex and sexuality, there’s two choices of male or female, “normal” vs. “abnormal”, straight or homosexual.

Of course we know that so often, many people don’t fit into these definitions, regardless of whether we think they should or not.  The mere fact that they claim that they don’t means that our A or B choice has flaws in it.  We see that in the sexuality discussion.  I think we’re aware of it when it comes to religion, although we aren’t good about talking about it, and we seem to be oblivious to this when it comes to politics.

So what’s a person to do when we they don’t fit into the “required” norm of picking a side?  Let’s just focus on religion and politics for now.

First, Expect that other are going to try to force you to pick.  Doesn’t mean you have to, it’s just that you should be prepared for this.  Just realize, this is the norm of society.  So many can’t even conceive of there being other options.  That’s not a judgement against others, it’s a recognition of reality around us.

Second, decide on a course of action.  You can either pretend to go along with this expectation, or you can chart a different course.  What might that different course be – looking at the ideal and moving towards it.  It might be lonely, and it might raise criticism.  But, really, is just sticking with the norm a good option?  If we ever want to change the dynamic, how is that going to happen unless there are people willing to step outside of the norm and just start living differently?

When forced to pick sides, you have another option usually.  Listen, express understanding, and invite people to see the world differently. Expect resistance and even harsh attacks.  But don’t give up.  Keep inviting and keep living.  Keep moving towards the ideal.  When people get tired of fighting and being attacked and attacking and being hurt and hurting, they will want another option.  That’s when people who refuse to pick sides will be heard.