 My dear family in Christ,
When I was growing up and learning the unwritten rules of civil society, the number one, top priority, most important Prime Directive was that there were two topics that one is never to discuss in public: religion and politics. Interestingly, the two things that have our society most deeply divided at present are, well, religion and politics. But I’m sure that’s just coincidence. Er… The notion, of course, was always that conversations on those hot-button topics always lead to disagreements, and disagreements lead to stress, conflict, and strife, and we’ll all just get along better if we never go there in the first place. The thing is, as noble as it might sound, that notion is ridiculous. Not talking about the things we may disagree about doesn’t magically make the disagreement go away. Not communicating merely robs us of any ability to deal constructively with those disagreements that we already have. But there’s an additional side effect of decades of not talking about politics and religion, one that applies directly to church communities. Avoiding such conversations in church communities creates the dangerously false impression that it’s possible to have a Christianity that is itself devoid of politics … and thus a Christianity that has nothing to say to or about the politics of our larger society. In other words, a Christianity that is totally irrelevant to how we live our lives in this world. As an ordained minister, I can’t tell y’all how many times folks have said to me (whether they were talking about me, personally, some other specific person, or ministers in general) that “preachers should keep politics out of the pulpit.” In many places, that notion is widely accepted as self-evident wisdom and propriety. But it makes me ask: “How, then, is a preacher supposed to preach the Gospel?” Especially, for example, the Gospel appointed for this coming Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Advent. But more on that in a moment. In August of last year, Scott Detrow of NPR interviewed Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, about Moore’s book Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America. In the interview, Detrow asked Moore why he (Moore) thought that Christianity in America was (is) in a state of crisis. Moore replied: Well, it was the result of having multiple pastors tell me essentially the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount parenthetically in their preaching - turn the other cheek - to have someone come up after and to say, where did you get those liberal talking points? And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would not be, I apologize. The response would be, yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak. And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis. You can find the entire interview online here: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/05/1192374014/russell-moore-on-altar-call-for-evangelical-america My dear friends, the Gospel is inherently political. It cannot help but be political. You see, the term politics, properly defined, is just the name we use for how a group of people goes about making group decisions (what the group will do as a group, what the group will not do, what the group believes is important to the group, &c.) and how the members of the group are going to behave and how they’re going to treat each other. That is what politics is, whether the group in question is a clique of friends, a family, a county commission, a school board, a Christian congregation … or a whole entire nation. Any group of people, however small or large, has to have a way of making group decisions and a way of determining how the members of the group will interact with each other. That means every group of people, however small or large, engages in politics. Now, the Gospels have some very specific things to say about how we are supposed to make decisions as a group of faithful Jesus-followers in covenant with God and with each other. And about how we are to treat each other (and all our fellow human beings—our fellow God-image-bearers) in this world. Just take a close look at the Sermon on the Mount, or Matthew chapter 25, or the portion of Luke appointed for this coming Sunday. Luke’s Gospel for Advent 4 for contains the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, one of the most profound political statements in the New Testament. To be sure, politics ain’t the main point of the Gospels, not remotely. The main point is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Lord! And that God broke into this created world in the flesh and person of Jesus to save us and redeem us from our sin (both individual and collective sin!). It is because of who and what Jesus is—because of who and what Jesus incarnate reveals God to be—that his teaching matters and must shape our politics. Because God takes sides: God sides with the lowly, the poor, the oppressed, those who suffer injustice, those on the margins, those who are vulnerable … and God calls us to side with folks in those situations, too. The Episcopal Church has often been accused of “pandering” to “woke progressivism.” All Saints has been accused of that a few times since we became officially inclusive and affirming of LGBTQA+ folks (and put up our rainbow signs). Some folks have even argued that the Church is “dying” because it’s supposedly more concerned with left-leaning politics than with the Gospel. But I don’t think that’s accurate. If we are in fact dying (and that can be debated!), it’s not because of some alleged “woke agenda.” It’s because we as a Church have not been clear and enthusiastic about the Gospel message that we have been entrusted to proclaim far and wide. A Gospel message that is as relevant and as engaged in the real world where people live their real lives now as it was two millennia ago. As we conclude our Advent preparations for the birth of God among us, let us pray to God to rekindle in us that same zeal that burned in the Apostles to proclaim the Good News boldly, lovingly, enthusiastically, joyfully, to a world that walks in darkness still, longing for the Light of Christ! Comments are closed.
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