My faith can drive to me to be (gasp) political
I am not by nature interested in the necessary structures
that order our life together
But I respect the power of our systems
For good or for ill
And I respect the fact that my faith should shape my choices
About what I support
And who I vote for
It's not a simple matter
We can easily ignore faith, tear it in an unnatural way
from faith
Separate faith and our political stances to the point
We ignore the very tenants of our faith in our political
choices
Or we can blend them together in such a way
That our faith does indeed shape our political choices
And the problem is this
Faith should impact our relationship with the systems of
power
And should shape how we approach them
And both separating our faith from our politics
And merging our faith and our politics
Can lead to the same toxic place
If we ignore faith we can embrace wealth and power
(after all, Mary wasn’t serious when she predicted that
Jesus would bring low the mighty)
But if we merge faith with our politics, the expediencies
of power
Can end up conquering our faith (not the other way
around)
It seems we must make these assertions.
We cannot allow politics to use our faith
(as is happening with the American right, where bad
people manipulate people of faith and get them to support things decidedly not
Jesus).
But we must engage in politics from the perspective of
faith
Faith in what?
A friend posted this quote
America doesn’t need Republicans
It doesn’t need Democrats
It needs Jesus
Sounds good! Right?
But which Jesus?
The Jesus of the American right, who is about power and
wealth
About winning and controlling
About coercion and punishment?
That is a Jesus who has been re-created in the image of
toxic individualism
And greed
And dominance
That is a Jesus who listened to the tempter in the
wilderness before his ministry started
And coopted the systems of power of his day
To become “King”
Who took over the Sanhedrin, collaborated with the
Pharisees
And somehow made the Romans his tools.
But that is not the Jesus who came
That is not the suffering servant who, as Isaiah reminds
us
‘was so marred, beyond human semblance… that we should
look at him…
He was despised and rejected…”
This is the Jesus of Mary
(I am so glad I am related to Jesus on his mother’s side)
The Jesus who stood against the politically powerful
Stood against a misguided faith system that burdened and
excluded
And did not welcome and affirm all
The Jesus who came was about love
About taking care of the vulnerable
Comforting the hurting (and afflicting the comfortable?)
Healing the wounded
Jesus came bringing love
He died speaking words of love (Father forgive them)
And the rule of Jesus thus will always be about love
Not about controlling women
Sending people to hell
Taking over political power (as our current Speaker of
the House would like to do)
In the “name of Jesus.”
Using faith as a political pawn
Even what is called the “Second Coming” is about love
As Madeleine L’Engle puts it
“The Second Coming is an action of Love. The judgment of God is the judgment of love,
not of powerplays, vindication, or hate.
The Second Coming is the redemption of the entire cosmos, not just one
small planet.”
Or as Paul puts it,
The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing
of the children of God… the creation itself will be set from its bondage of
decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans)
For me then, my politics must always be guided by love
Not about power
Not about control
Not about retribution
Not about hate
Not about (even) winning
So I ask these questions when I make my choices
Who is functioning from the perspective of love?
Who is taking care of the vulnerable
Whose policies are more about the “common good” than
about privilege
I can’t make my decisions based solely on my
My power and privilege
My bank account or retirement account
My comfort
Who takes care of the poor
Who supports food security
Who promotes peace
Who is willing to fight for gun control
Who is looking out for the planet
Who is about welcoming the stranger (functional
immigration policies)
That is the person I am going to support
That is the person I am going to vote for
No
No one does it totally right
(Sadly such a person could never get elected in America)
But who leans toward love and compassion
Who leans away from coercion and retribution
Who leans toward the common good
Who leans away from economic inequity
Who protects the planet (which is an incarnation of God)
Who is not willing to plunder it for profit
The GOP is antithetical to most of my values
They would benefit me.
I am white and reasonably well-off
My retirement is not at its best right now
But
People are hurting
And that should not be
We have enough wealth to take care of all
But not enough to satisfy the greed of the wealthy and
those on the right
The Democrats fall far, far short as well
There is no one (especially no politician?) who really
lives out a faith in the
Jesus who emptied himself and gave everything for
everyone
So I will go with those whose policies, words, and
actions best fit my faith
However imperfectly
And speak out against those who clearly do not
Those are greedy, liars, cruel, hypocritical
People ask me why I a liberal politically
That is why
I simply do my best to let the Jesus of the cross
The Jesus who welcomed all
The Jesus who forgave and healed and fed the strugglers
Shape my agenda
And determine who I support
Knowing I will sometimes be wrong
But believing that I must side with love.
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