Election Year

Not being a true politico, I am somewhat reticent to write about the presidential election coming to your neighborhood on November 6, 2012. To be sure, this is a campaign that David Brooks (writing for the Atlantic Monthly) calls “the dullest campaign ever.” The issues are huge, and the proposed remedies are small. Yet with great gravitas, both candidates will assure the electorate that only they are able to rescue these United States from impending doom. (Interestingly, pundit Brooks notes that voting either way assures disaster.)

While political critique is part and parcel of pastoral ministry, political endorsement is not (for a variety of reasons). So, I am treading lightly here. The fact remains that for the next several months, many Americans—and most Christians—will be paying very close attention to Obama v. Romney. Televisions, newspapers, and magazines will be full of promises, posturing, and pithy sound bites. Your home will be accosted with flyers, postcards, and phone calls. The message from each candidate will be the same: “Elect me!” With the not-so-subtle implication that our lives will be much better if we choose rightly.

I am not suggesting that the next presidential election is somehow unimportant (though surely I contend that it is not nearly as important as the candidates themselves, and the parties they represent, would have us believe). I am also not suggesting anything about either of the two candidates—interestingly, from a Christian perspective, we are attempting to make a good decision between a professing Christian whose views seem largely antithetical to traditional Judeo-Christian values, and a professing Mormon (conspicuously un-Christian, however conservative) for whom the Book of Mormon carries equal weight, presumably, in all matters of civil ethics. Suffice to say, this is complicated.

This rather long introduction is to make neither a political statement nor to focus your attention on the impending election. My none-too-subtle treatise is to challenge you to declare with conviction this day who you will serve. As Christians, we have the audacity to proclaim only one King, and His name is the Lord. The practical implications for such a declaration are multivalent and certainly not bound by political party lines. In fact, our obeisance to Jesus the King demands a constant critique of the power structures in our society. “Conservative” and “liberal” are not the standards. Obedience to Christ Jesus is.

All of that is to say that our faith-in-action is not going to be easily categorized by any one political party or any one social stance. Our faith-in-action does not, after all, point to “social justice” (however defined), “traditional values,” or the one who happens to hold public office. Our faith-in-action must always point to Jesus Christ.

I am not attempting to be cryptic here, so please allow me to come right out with it: as you declare your faith in Jesus Christ this day, will you also accept the challenge of being changed? To be challenged in long-held presuppositions, long-cherished values, and long-treasured traditions that may not have any Biblical or theological grounding whatsoever? Such willingness to be changed is surely borne of humility (and effected by the power of the Holy Spirit, thanks be to God), which in turn makes a rather profound statement to a world that is increasingly anti-Christian (the Chick-Fil-A fiasco being case-in-point to this reality). To put a very fine point on it: are you going to express to the world that you are driven by love, or are you going to express to the world that we have it all figured out, that you are right, and “It’s my way or else…”?

I’m nervous as I write this, because I can hear already some of the reprisals. I’m going to abstain, however, from listing a hundred-and-one qualifications to my presentation. This is really a call to something new and different for Christ's church. It is a blanket call to identify, pray against, and resist the idols of conformity to the world and passivity to the greater call of Christ. Because (a-ha!—this is what it is really about) you have been elected by God, the true King. He chose you. Enough of this nonsense about politics and tea parties and self-righteous do-goodism. Enough of this nonsense about family values, equal rights, and “correct” atonement theories. “We are ambassadors for Christ [the King], God making his appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20). Are we willing to get out of our petty, safe, and thoroughly worldly political groupings and engage our neighborhoods, cities, and world in the name of Jesus Christ? Are we willing to get out of our cloistered religious communities (found both in and out of the church) for the sake of the Kingdom of God? It is certainly what we’ve been called to as ones chosen by God.

Much of what I’ve written here is in response to a leader who asked, “How do we inspire service and commitment in the church; in other words, how do we destroy passivity in a pagan world of idolatrous passivity?” The answer is simple but the action is hard:

1)   Stand up;

2)   Know that God has chosen you (signified by your baptism);

3)   Declare the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life;

4)   Commit to serving and then do it.

That’s it.

God is at work in and through His church and you are the church. I cannot will or inspire or even demand your commitment. God does will and inspire and demand it, however, because you belong to Him. The election is over (you’re chosen), the challenges are myriad, now is the time to act.