I have been very troubled this election season by the divisiveness, not just in America, but within the Church, the body of Christ, those who claim to be followers of Jesus. I’ve watched several of Phil Vischer’s Holy Post videos on matters that affect Christian voting and politics. They are spot on and well worth the watch. This one speaks to the race divide between Black and White Christian voting practices and the history behind it:
It’s time we as Christians STOP trying to make one political party or affiliation to be THE “Christian” way. The Kingdom of God will never be realized through any kingdom of this world. The Kingdom of God is an upside down, power-under kingdom that transforms through love of God and love of others, through submitting to the wisdom of God over the wisdom of empire and power and self. It has been and continues to be the tiny mustard, the leaven in the dough, that grows and spreads through emulating and living out the power-under love of Christ – the Sermon on the Mount kind of love, that puts others first, that cares for the least of these no matter the cost, that rejects the idols of nationalism, mammon, and power over others in favor of the Creator of the Heaven and Earth, seeking to live out His Kingdom ways NOW, seeking to live out NOW the future reality of His will being done on earth as it is heaven.
His will is really quite simple: Love God. Love Others. Period. That entails valuing ALL who are created in His Image, ALL humanity. His kingdom ways can be nurtured in our lives no matter who is in power, no matter how much or little we have. It’s time we as Christians stop looking to Babylon for salvation and maintaining our comfort zones. It’s time we turn and look to Jesus, the Christ, to God Incarnate, who showed us the way. The way was not then and is not now through political or empirical power. It was then and is now through laying down ourselves to lift up the least, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the outsiders. It is welcoming all these to the table with open arms. It’s entering their struggles and listening and speaking on their behalf.
As a Christian you may discern that one political party seems to do that over another and the reality is they both champion those causes in different ways and they both fail miserably in other ways. But at the end of the day, this nation is as all others, a kingdom of this world and as such, it will not and cannot be a kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has no national interest. Voting one way or another does not make you more or less Christian, does not mean you love Jesus more or less, does not mean you love others more or less. It just means that you have a different perspective. So keep loving and doing the work of Christ, no matter the outcome of the election or the political affiliation of your neighbor. And if the other party wins, focus on the ways that they do champion the causes of the least and know that God’s Kingdom is much bigger than this nation we call America.
The reality is that we all want the same thing, to be loved, valued, successful and make sure that others are loved and valued and successful. We all want peace and justice to flow like a mighty river. But fear – of what the other in power may or may not do that could leave us with less in some way – blinds us from loving and valuing those who are not like us, from seeing their perspective, from removing the blinders that keep us in our safe space. It’s time to tear down the walls of fear and submit to the love of God that is revealed in us only as we love the other above ourselves.
And no matter who you vote for or if you vote at all, go watch those Phil Vischer Holy Post Videos and listening to the voice of Bob the Tomato will remind you that “God made you special and He loves you VERY much!”
Grit 'n Grace Life 