Secular politics is the third rail of church ministry. Don’t touch it unless you absolutely have to. But the significant mid-term elections yesterday are compelling me to speak to what I think is a fundamental issue in our public discourse, something that is spiritual in nature; the unique relationship between grace and responsibility.
It almost goes without saying that the nature of my work in churches over the years has landed me dead center in politics. And its not a cop out, it really is who I am. I value relationships over just about anything, so my ideals are sharply formed by a desire to see people of a wide political berth live in harmony, which is a tough bill to fill. Christ said the peacemakers would be blessed. I think mostly we just end up having high blood pressure and eating too much.
Having said the above, it is true that my politics tend to lean “bleeding heart.” Part of it is practical. There exists an overwhelming number of people in our society, people who visit our church doorstep on a regular basis, who either cannot or will not do the few basic things to make sure they have shelter, nutritious food, and some means of health care. It’s a complicated problem. It forms early in various “cultures of poverty” perpetuated by weakened families and communities (My very over-simplified, broad-brush theory is that television has reeked havoc on the values and core cognitive frameworks in the home. But that is one among many 20th century problems we have to undo. And undo-ing things is exhaustive work.).
So knowing we have this weakened strata, there is a large part of me that believes one of the functions of government ought to be maintaining basic safety nets. Determining the reach and scope of these safety nets is a big roll of governing. An example? The welfare to work legislation that happened in the 90s was the right kind of haggling between liberal and conservatives. It is the partnership (not tension) between grace and responsibility.
Our city had Trick-or-Treating for Halloween on Saturday night (our city council's decision to move what amounts to a religious holiday—All-Hallows-Eve—away from the night before All Saints Day was a bit presumptuous, but I digress). My wife took our son trick or treating while I stayed on the front porch and handed out candy. I live on an historic residential street that runs through Shawnee, and a LARGE number of families from all over Shawnee drive to our street to trick-or-treat our homes. It’s a bit of a pain because you can’t buy enough candy for everyone who comes--you’d spend hundreds--you simply have to buy what are willing and when you run out, shut-her-down. I confess that these past many years we’ve skipped out, shuttering our windows and finding a party to go to. But this year, I decided we should participate.
When my wife and young Luke Skywalker left I was a Democrat, when they returned an hour later I was a Republican.
The number of young adults coming to my porch for candy was alarming. Older teenagers and twenty-somethings, many of whom were not even wearing a costume, asked me for candy. Parents, grown men and women, some even as old as forty and fifty, approached me for candy. Parents with infants, dressed up as doodle bugs and the like, approached me on behalf of their infants. Wanting candy? And it wasn’t just a few. It was a lot of people. In a matter of a few minutes I was infuriated. Trick-or-treating is for children (who are able to walk), who dress up in a costume, to visit the homes of their neighbors to show them their costumes and receive a treat. What it sure as hell is not (Halloween pun intended) is a chance for people to drive to a middle class neighborhood where they know no one and receive their candy entitlement. Especially these adults. Yeesh! It was embarrassing and when it was over I was exhausted.
Yesterday, in the mid-term elections, our nation overwhelmingly voted in republicans. It isn’t unheard of. Anyone who studies American political trends concludes that we are a firmly center nation, and we tend to move back and forth between the two. What is at play are two distinctly American values—grace and responsibility—struggling to find the right kind of political marriage. We are willing to be compassionate, and we want people to do their best. We want people to try. I know lots can be said on both sides of that equation about how the system does or does not make that equation possible, or how it is weighted to one side of the other. And those are the kinds of discussions I expect my elected officials to have. Regardless, they both are a part of who we are as a people, in great part because of our religious heritage.
I know I haven’t gotten down to the nitty-gritty of what happened yesterday at the polls (remember that third rail?). And believe you me; I know there is some nitty-gritty. I only pray that those elected to lead our body-politic will commit themselves to embracing both sides of our nation's spiritual ethos, the pull-yourself-up by your bootstraps ought-to-do mentality, and the “what ever you have done to least of these you have done it to me mentality" (Matthew 25). I believe that an honest and civil partnership between these two ways of approaching life is where the truth of living is found.
Gracious God. For those in positions of public trust, we pray that they may serve justice, and promote the dignity and freedom of every person. For all who live and work in this community, we pray to you Lord. For a blessing upon all human labor, and for the right use of the riches of creation, that the world may be freed from poverty, famine, and disaster, for the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger; that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, O Lord. Amen.
