Politics and pulpits don’t always mix well, yet they seem to run into one another from time to time. By and large, I don’t like to mix the two, but at times it is unavoidable.
In some instances, it would be irresponsible not to bring the two together. There is a distinction to be made between political and partisan, however. Political issues are any public issues that are debated from different perspectives. Partisanship is the shift to advocacy for an issue solely because of a defined political group’s agenda. Partisanship has no place in the pulpit, where politics, or at least political topics, do.
When there are public, moral, or social issues that our society faces and struggles with, the Church has a voice and should use it. Our appeal to authority and understanding as Christians is based on scripture, the teachings of the church, and our own understanding and experience, the latter of which always gets filtered through the first two. While Jesus was adept at sidestepping political “traps”, he did not shy away from addressing first century “politics” about things like poverty, strangers, outcasts, etc. He had a prophetic voice that spoke to the powers of his day; a voice that lives on in the Church today.
I say all this because I included a sentence that struck a few people as “political” in Sunday’s sermon. The sermon itself was not political, and yet there was an obvious current events story that fit the explication (a fancy way of describing our ability to understand the implication of a bible story for our lives) of the feeding miracle we read about in Matthew’s Gospel. The single sentence from the sermon read this way, “Calls to close borders in the face of refugee children do not come from a place of God’s abundance.”
It is true that the plight of refugee children on our borders has become a political football. It is also true that it is a humanitarian issue, and one that forces us to decide how we will respond. When we do this through the lens of our faith, it is clear that from the beginning of our Judeo-Christian ancestry, care and compassion for the alien and foreigner has been a mandate of our God. Let us not forget that our own Lord’s family also had to flee to a foreign country (Egypt) and live as aliens in order for their son to survive his childhood.
Is the crisis on our southern border a political issue? Sure it is. It is a faith issue? Absolutely. My intent with that one sentence was not to be partisan, but rather to draw a line from our tradition, the teaching of our Church and the example of our Lord, to the events of the day in the hopes that we could stop and reflect on what God might want “us” to do with these children. I stated that the most extreme response, to close the borders and turn these children away, is not a response that flows from an understanding of God’s abundance; a theological statement that stands on its own without any help from a politician or a preacher.
Does such a statement about God’s abundance make you uncomfortable? It should. It makes me uncomfortable! …not because it’s political, but because it challenges me to see the world and respond to it in ways I may not like. I fear that there isn’t “enough to go around”, that we can’t “afford” to carry too many people on our collective backs, that if left unchecked we will have a full-blown humanitarian crisis (if we don’t already). But those fears cannot dictate my response because I’ve been called to lay my fears aside and see with the eyes of God; to imagine with God what alternatives and responses are possible. As a follower of Christ I am called, first and foremost, to compassion for foreigners, refugees, and children. My inclusion of that single sentence in a sermon was not meant to be proscriptive of anything other than recognizing the source of our responses and hearing the call to an abundant response, whatever form that may take.
Preaching that ignores the issues of the day is unfaithful preaching. The goal of a preacher is to be a prophetic voice of challenge to the preacher and congregation alike; to force us to confront our brokenness and sinfulness as we seek wholeness; to name our sicknesses, our fears, and our problems so that we can seek healing; to hear the Good News of God in Christ in the face of all of it. I have no desire to open up partisan debates about each issue that comes across the headlines; however, I will always take an opportunity to highlight the ways in which our faith calls us to be theologically reflective about what appears in those headlines. Our faithful responses may not always match up with one another, but the key is that our responses are faithful to the ways our faith calls us to respond.
We may have our political proclivities challenged from time to time, but such is the way of those who follow Jesus of Nazareth. We cannot ignore the places where our political proclivities bump up against his teachings. Instead, we must faithfully discern which will ultimately sway our hearts, minds, and actions. It’s a decidedly uncomfortable proposition. The gospel is inherently challenging, and the teachings of Jesus often make us uncomfortable. That is part of the reason the gospel continues to be important to this broken world.
Ours is the God who Mary sang of in this way after learning that her son was God’s son: “[God has] scattered the proud in their conceit…cast down the mighty from their thrones…lifted up the lowly…filled the hungry with good things, and…sent [the rich] away empty.” (Luke 1:51-53) The truth of the gospel that her child would go on to embody is challenging to some and comforting to others at the same time. We can’t ignore it when we find ourselves challenged by it. God, as displayed most clearly in the life and work of Jesus, is a God of abundant blessings and possibilities, and yes, at times that reality in and of itself is the challenge. It is a challenge we must work through again and again when our tendencies are otherwise.
I hope that you will always feel free to talk to me about anything I say here or in the pulpit. I welcome such conversations, as they help me to learn and grow. There is much for the Body of Christ to discuss.
Tom+
Almighty God, whose compassion embraces all people, we beseech you for the world’s children. May those whose small bodies are undernourished or diseased be fed and made whole; May those whose minds are dull and unchallenged come alive; May those whose homes are broken by strife find peace and security. Protect in all children, O Lord, their special spontaneity; and keep from despair those who know failure or frustration. In due time, bring them, your children and our brothers and sisters, to their full human stature; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.