christian politics (?)

I am not outspoken in terms of my political beliefs. Part of this is because I like my job and do not want to lose it. More seriously, though, is the reality that I don't publicize my political thoughts because I am very often conflicted and even confused politically. I am not wired for it, I don't think. At least, not for the debate of it--I change my mind too frequently, understand the complexities too inadequately, and quite frankly lack much confidence in the whole enterprise. Yet, every four years or so (and more frequently for the truly plugged in), our citizens are asked to put our minds and hearts into the conversation and come out with a pro-active choice regarding our leadership as a nation. This usually calls for a rehearsal of the basic responsibilities and convictions regarding Christian politics.

But have you ever stopped and thought about how difficult that concept might be: "Christian politics?" What should "Christian politics" look like? Does it have the moral fiber and stewardship of conservatism mixed with the social awareness and compassion of liberalism? Does it mean well but ultimately die the death of a thousand qualifications? Does it confuse the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of this earth?

Christianity is by nature political. That is to say that to be Christian is to be a a part of a community of faith in practice. Persons in community must find ways of relating to one another and being together. Even further, the community of faith is in the world, and therefore must operate within the greater human community. Our faith and the practice of it together (even my private convictions) hold social ramifications.  If it has to do with the organization and aggregate relationship of a social group, it is by definition political.

But Christianity is not partisan. It is not one political ideology or platform. It is not a set of ideas really. Christianity is dedication to a person--namely, Jesus. This commitment to relationship with Jesus redefines all other commitments for Christians. Furthermore, Christianity is not a government. I don't think that impersonal things like "government" can be Christian. Government is an object, not a subject--it cannot do, think, act, live, etc. like Jesus. The people (subjects) within it can, but the government as a whole cannot. We as persons live Christian-ly as we relate, interact, and coexist with others.

yup... nailed it.

Still, this semantic discourse has some value, but really is simply a nice way of dodging the initial question about Christians and Politics. For instance, I am right in saying that Christian T-shirts cannot actually exist, because T-shirts cannot be Christian. But what people mean by this is that T-shirts purport to say something in favor of Christianity (of course, rarely do they accomplish this task... sort of like government... hey now, I am on to something here). More to the point, regardless of how to best say it, most of the Christians I know who are trying to practice Christian politics really want to be good citizens of heaven and of earth. And to do that, we have to commit to overcoming what has become an epidemic in our culture: shallowness. It seems that when it comes to politics--and many other things, we don't lack zeal, but instead we lack depth.

In politics--and in most areas of our lives--we want to dumb everything down to one or two soundbites or concepts so that we can make an easy decision that will cost us little in terms of investment but yield us great return and reward. Low investment, high yield... sounds like a myth to me. It seems we are begging to just know what is right (and wrong), but we lack the stomach required to learn what is true (and false). We want to know what to think more than we actually want to think about it. 

Maybe it is because we know that depth is time-consuming, so we opt out because we are busy (or we say that we are busy)? Maybe we know that depth is challenging, so we opt out because life is hard enough (or we say that life is hard enough)?  Maybe we know that depth requires vulnerability and the willingness to have our minds changed, so we opt out because we want to be strong and consistent (or people will think that we are strong and consistent)? Whatever the reason, our lack of depth is killing us (and our churches).

The answer is not uniformity--all of us must agree and vote this way. That sucks the life, creativity, imagination, exploration, and depth out of the gospel truth. Whatever your politics--conservative, liberal, independent, or conscientious objector--avoid the shallow all-too-easy answers and commit yourself to seeking deep answers that do your best to be as Christian as possible in all circumstances regardless of the outcome. 

blessed

Lately, I have been studying the beatitudes deeply. These blessings are so powerful and so challenging. It has dawned on me that I have dodged these most of my life... Oh, I knew they were there and even quoted them and celebrated them (after all, Christians should try to make it a habit to at least nominally agree with Jesus' words, right?). But I didn't look too closely at them--sadly--because I knew that they were more demanding than I was ready for.

So I recently decided to face this text and wrestle with it... and they shocked me. If for no other reason, they shocked me as it dawned on me for the first time in my life that these are blessings.

I always regarded them as commands--a new ethical law that determines who is really a disciple and who is simply part of the crowds who hear Jesus talking but don't follow him. Or I saw them as grand ideals to look to, but not a law because Jesus was about grace not laws. Both of these readings were basically the same approach, though: Precept and Promise. In the beatitudes, Jesus gives us a precept to be lived out and a promise that is the reward for living out the precept.

Step 1: turn the beatitude into a virtue. If it said "blessed are the poor in spirit," then the virtue was "humility." 

Step 2: act out the virtue as best as possible thereby earning the promised blessing (in this case, the kingdom of heaven).

And what do I do with the next beatitude? "Blessed are those who mourn." Mourning is not a virtue. Mourning is hurting because you can't help it.... because life has been hard, things have gone horribly wrong, hurt is so deep that catching your breath seems impossible. Well, I had to fulfill "step 1" so I turned mourning into a virtue--maybe it is mourning over sin... or maybe it is mourning with those who are mourning, so it is compassion.

Justifying Rationale: Sure it's not what God said, but it is what he intended.

This system worked well for me... it may have even made me a better and more virtuous person; however, the truth is that the reward for being virtuous is being virtuous. We never earn anything from God--we never have God under our thumb, so to speak.

The truth is that these are not a requirement list, or even a recommendation list. These are blessings. Christ is saying in these blessings, "Look at what God is doing in the world. His kingdom is here at hand and you can be a part of it if you have the capacity and faith to see just how big and amazing and high and wide and deep and powerful and inclusive is this kingdom. It includes the poor and the mourning and the meek and the persecuted. The way you think of power and blessing is in need of being turned upside down. You have to learn to see the kingdom through my eyes--learn to see the world not just for what it is, but for what it could be if it were filled with the active presence of God."

For so long I thought that the greatest danger facing me was that I was not good enough. Turns out, I am not good enough, but God's answer to that has never been giving me a list of obligatory rules to make me good enough. Turns out that God's answer to that has been loving me no matter what and calling me to learn to rely not on my own practiced virtue, but on his glorious grace. Turns out I'm not half as bad as God is good. Turns out, in God's eyes, the biggest danger facing me is a lack of imagination. I don't dream big enough.