I was just finishing up another post this morning, all ready for today's Fortnightly, when a note from my brother popped up: "I'm preaching on Sunday. Most of these words come from Christianity Today, Frederick Buechner, David Kuo, and Max Lucado, all of whom I will cite. Tell me what you think."
Within the first couple of paragraphs, I knew that this was one of the most insightful sermons I'd read or heard in awhile and that my brother had conveniently and coincidentally created a timely guest blog for me -- and made an excellent connection to a soul - searching article that we had been discussing only an hour earlier. Hopefully I can return the favor by widening Bruce's audience to include my readers in addition to his congregation.
and his sources, Frederick Buechner, David Kuo,
Max Lucado, and Christianity Today:
We are really ready for this presidential election to be over. We’re ready for an end to the rancor and tackiness. Voters on both sides feel frustrated, even embarrassed by it all. There is great angst about the result, by supporters of both major candidates. What if the other one wins? There is a visceral fear, encouraged by the media on both sides, that if the wrong candidate wins, it means the end of the United States as we know it. And, it's that fear I want to address. Hear the words of Frederick Buechner:
“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.”Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Don't be afraid. I am with you.
Christians on both sides seem to have trouble hearing that message right now. Our country is bitterly divided, and more than simply reflecting that division, the Church EXEMPLIFIES that division. What we are doing is nothing less than putting the gospel at stake. The gospel is of infinitely greater importance than any political campaign, and one good summary of the gospel is, “Jesus is Lord.” And the lordship of Jesus Christ places constraints on how we involve ourselves, or entangle ourselves, with earthly rulers.
The Democratic nominee has pursued unaccountable power through secrecy. She exemplifies the path to power rooted in a rigorous control of one’s image and a calculated disregard for norms that restrain less powerful actors. Such efforts to avoid accountability put both the leader and the community in greater danger.
Because several of the Democratic candidate’s policy positions are so incompatible with certain Christian values, and because some in her party are so openly hostile to the expressions of the traditional Christian faith, there is plenty of critique, criticism, and concern over her possible election.
But, the Republican nominee raises equally valid concerns. In many ways he personifies the “earthly nature” Paul wrote of in Colossians: “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry”. That he has been, his whole adult life, an idolater of this sort, and a singularly unrepentant one, should be clear to everyone.
Supporters of either major candidate have valid reasons for concern about the other candidate. But, we ought to be equally concerned about our own preferred candidate as well. These are two extremely flawed candidates. No Christian should claim to be supporting either one based on an appeal to Christian values. Measured against Christian values, neither of them deserves our support.
That is not to say “Don't vote.” By all means, vote. It's your duty as a responsible citizen. And you can support or oppose either candidate, based on very real policy differences – differences that get lost when the candidates and their campaign representatives engage in the vile, disgusting horror show that this election has become. Say you support Hillary Clinton because you believe she's more experienced and more qualified. Say you support Donald Trump because you think he'll do better protecting us from terrorist attacks. But, don't say you support either one of them because of your Christian faith.
When we, as Christians, ally ourselves with politicians, in an attempt to manipulate the levers of power in favor of our cause we support and engage in a form of idolatry . . . placing our faith in earthly kings and princes, at the expense of our dependence on God. When we engage in the same bitterness and vitriol that pervades political discussion today, in support of a human leader; we give our neighbors cause to doubt that we really believe Jesus is Lord. They see us as self-interested, self-protective hypocrites who will ally ourselves with anyone – even those who violate things we consider sacred – if we believe they may help us advance our agenda.
For too long we've held this hope that the right person doing the right things would make America better; eliminate poverty, wipe out crime, and expand opportunity to all our citizens. But, it hasn't happened. Our hopes have been misplaced and unreasonable; the bar set too high; and we've squandered our energy and our treasure in the deal.
Our political leaders, regardless of party, are just that – political. No matter their faith or lack thereof, they are just plain old people doing a plain old job. They can't save America. Maybe they can change things at the margin, here and there. But, ultimately, the job of fixing America is our job..and by “our” I mean both the American people and the church in America. And our faith must be placed where it belongs...not in politicians, but in God.
This year’s presidential election presents Christian voters with an especially difficult choice...AND IT'S NOT THE CHOICE OF VOTING FOR ONE CANDIDATE OR ANOTHER. It's a choice about how we are going to behave when this election is over.
As Christians, we are instructed to pray for our rulers, even those who directly oppose our welfare. If the Apostle Paul prayed for a Roman emperor who used Christians as human torches, can we not pray for our next president, whoever that may be?
I have a prediction. I know exactly what November 9 is going to bring. No matter who wins, God will still be God; and Christians will have a choice: We can wring our hands in despair at the result. We can continue the character assassination and politics of personal destruction. Or, we can behave like Christians.
When you get home today, circle November 9 on your calendar and, in very large letters, write these words: “God is still God and I will pray for our new President.”
“Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid. I am with you.”
AMEN
[Click for further thoughts & Election Aftermath]
Or, as Dame Julian of Norwich expressed it
so many centuries ago (1342 - 1462):
"All shall be well
And all shall be well
And all manner of things shall be well."
But, as I always say: we have to do our share to make it so.
SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS ON MY
Next Fortnightly Post
Friday October 28th
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THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
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www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
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my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogspot.com
Very insightful and so true.
ReplyDeletehttp://lvnwrth.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/again-really/
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I took a little break. I really question the value of this. It’ s not theraputic for me. It makes little or no difference. I am resigned to the fact that nothing of substance is going to change in the two to three decades I have left on this earth. So why bother?
I really don’t know the answer to my own question. Yet, somehow I am driven back here and compelled to type stuff that virtually no one will ever read. Maybe, in the back of my mind, there’s some hope that a century from now someone will discover what I’ve written and say, “They should have listened to him.” Maybe that’s it – the desire in all of us to achieve some sort of immortality. In any event, I’m back to bore and harass anyone who’s williing to read. Bear in mind, if you feel bored or harassed, no one is requiring you to read this.
Social contract theory emerged from The Enlightenment. It begins with the idea that the individual is ultimately sovereign, bounded only by our own abilities and our own conscience. In an effort to improve our living conditions, individuals come together and agree to surrender our sovereignty to a central government, so that we might live peaceably under a rule of law. That surrender of sovereignty, however, is not permanent. The individuals who are party to the social contract are free to withdraw from the contract, or to alter the government, when it serves their purposes to do so. From this theory came Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
cont.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of government, which views the individual as having absolute value, over and above the community; and it’s attendant view, that the right to maximize personal benefit is the cornerstone of the natural order, presents a problem for me as a Christian. Communities don’t function that way, or at least they are not supposed to. We ought not be about the business of sacrificing others for the benefit of self.
Now, I admit, that if one has no concern for Biblical perspectives, then what I have to say may have little or no value. So be it. But for those who either consider themselves Christian, or at least recognize the Bible as a source of wisdom and right ideas in general, our present economic system – based as it is on the social contract – ought to be a source of great concern.
God did not establish his covenant with individuals; He established his covenant with Israel, a community of faith. Everything the Bible teaches us, in both the Old and New Testaments, bears witness to the primacy of the community over the individual. Individuals are frequently depicted as sacrificing themselves for the good of the community. When the reverse is true – when others are sacrificed for the good of the individual – the condemnation of such selfishness is consistent.
As a Christian, I must question an economic system founded on the right of individuals to acquire and possess as much as possible, without regard for others. And I must likewise question any economic system which fails to list as its fundamental tenet, provision for the community as a whole.
Those of us born and/or reared in the United States – where the Gospel of Adam Smith (the prophet of free market capitalism) stands alongside the New Testament gospels as sacred writ - struggle to come to terms with the possiblity that our economic system may not only be non-Christian, but un-Christian. It is difficult to reject a system under which we have personally flourished. But, unlike Esau, we must take care not to trade our birthright for the temporary comfort of affluence.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said that Christians must remember that we are, “…not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state…the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.” If that is true, then I have no choice but to challenge an economic system which promotes, nay glorifies, the acquisition and accumulation of individual wealth, at the expense of the community as a whole. And if governments derive their just authority only by the consent of the governed, then I must stand against any form of government or political party whose goal is the furtherance of such a system, and cry out as best I can, “I do not consent!”
~ The Rev. Bruce L. Carriker
Additional comments from my brother Bruce:
ReplyDelete"This is from nearly nine years ago, November, 2016. It's so much worse than I imagined.
"I have thought long and hard about what to write about what happened a week ago tonight. Over the past seven days I have run the gamut of emotions from outrage to resignation.
"I am retired military. I have a pension. I have great health care. Contrary to what many believe, it's not free, but it's sure cheap. The next president claims to love veterans. I am male. I am white. I am approaching sixty years of age. I live in a pretty remote area. It is unlikely that the next president will do much that actually affects my day-to-day life; or that the demonstrations against his ascent to power will ever spill over into our little community. It would be easy to just sit back and ignore the next four years, knowing that not much will change for me. But, to do so would be to sell out my daughters, who mean more to me than anything.
"I realize that saying what is on my heart may cost me friendships, some of them of many years duration. That saddens me. But, if that is the price of being true to myself, I will pay it. I have friends, too many, who voted for Donald Trump. I know them. I don't believe they are racists or misogynists or Islamophobes or xenophobes. And yet, they looked at man who is clearly all of those things, and said, "Yes. This is who I want to lead our country." They may not harbor those vile inclinations, personally; but with their vote, they endorsed them. With their vote, they elevated to power a small, petty, vengeful, vulgar man, for whom making America great again and making America hate again are synonymous.
"Mr. President - elect, you cannot now claim that you want to be the president of "all Americans." You have spent the last seventeen months proving exactly the opposite. This is not a reality television show. Your words have lasting consequences. You cannot unring the bell that you have clanged, loudly and repeatedly, from the moment you descended that escalator. You showed us, clearly and often, exactly who and what you are. Any conciliatory words at this point ring hollow, and deservedly so. . . .
continued. below . . .
cont.
ReplyDelete"As a Christian, I will heed Paul's counsel and pray for the next President, as I have prayed for other Presidents. I will pray God protects him (and us) from acting on his basest and vilest instincts. I will pray that God protects him and us and the rest of the world from the potentially disastrous consequences of his irrational, temperamental, rage-fueled outbursts. I will pray that God creates in him a spirit of humility that allows him to seek the counsel of wise men and women; rather than an echo chamber for his hatred and bigotry, that his choice of Steve Bannon suggests.
"With apologies to my friend Gary O'Brien, who I paraphrase here:
"If you are a woman; if you are a person of color - a Native American, an African American, an Asian American, a Latino American, an American of Middle Eastern descent; if you are a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, an atheist; if you are mentally or physically challenged; if you are a member of the LGBT community; if you do not speak English, or if you speak English with an accent; if you are any of those who our president-elect mocked, insulted and labeled "other", in his appeal to our worst instincts, I want you to know this: You matter to me. I may not always understand you. I may not always agree with you. But, you matter!
"You matter, because the greatness of America is not found in our sameness, but in our diversity; and that as different as we all are, we shared a common commitment to basic human dignity and basic human decency; to the ideal that all of us are created equal, and are endowed with certain unalienable rights.
We did not always live up to the ideals of our Founders, to be sure. But, whatever progress we have made - and even the most cynical among us cannot deny that there has been progress - has been the result of honest, sometimes grudging, self-assessment, and a realization that too often our deeds were in conflict with our stated ideals; and the willingness to make the corrections required to steer our ship a little closer to those bearings.
"As I said, I am not "other." I am a late middle-aged, white, Christian, male. It would be easy for me to sit back and let this be someone else's problem. But, then, I am reminded of the words of Martin Niemoller....words I never in my worst nightmares imagined would be remotely applicable to the United States of America, but words that are eerily relevant tonight, as we face the prospect of a presidency committed to the operative principle of divide and conquer:
'First they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak for me.'
"So, if you are ANY ONE OF THOSE who our President-elect labeled as "other", know that you matter to our country and you matter to me, and I will stand with you. If need be, I will stand in front of you.
___________________________
"It is SO MUCH WORSE than I imagined nine years ago."
~ The Rev. Bruce L. Carriker