The glamour and the bright lights and the politics of sin,The ghetto that you build for me is the one you end up in,The race of the engine that overrules your heart,Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,Pretending that you're so smart.-Dead man, Dead man-Bob Dylan: http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/dead-man-dead-man
Bob Dylan once said that, "politics is the instrument of the devil." Sometimes I tend to agree. I have a love/hate relationship to politics. You might say, "Being a pastor-preacher is like being a politician." Well, if you are Mike Huckabee, John Hagee and Pat Robertson then you are right-on. However, a Pastor's role according to Historic Lutheranism and most Catholic and Protestant churches is to preach the Word(gospel),adminster the sacraments, provide pastoral care but also like Hebrew prophets speak out for justice and defend the poor and voiceless. This is where it gets political and dangerous especially if you are in a middle or upper class congregation. There is an old saying "Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable" that is what pastors are called to do and if you are a Christian and follow Jesus expect the same if not worse.
Ok I'm chasing rabbits and kind of getting off subject here. Politics! Yeah right like Republican, Democrat, and Independent. Who does God favor? Anybody with any common sense knows that God does not have a political affiliation. Wait a minute I remember as a child there was this group called the Moral Majority which later became the Christian Coalition that proclaimed Christians were Republicans and the Democrats were not. They not only brought us Ronald Reagan but the two George Bushes. There are now Christian Libertarians and can you believe there is a Religious Left. You can blame them for Obama. Ok we can blame you for Bush.
To be honest this political infighting is tiring me out. I'd rather preach the gospel and just retreat on issues of race, poverty and such. The main message of Christ is that he is the Way, Truth and the life but it seems like many don't really believe that and we can't even talk like brothers and sisters in the faith because we disagree in politics.
44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these,(AC) you did not do it to me.
Matthew 25:44-45
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I've said before that the Church can't help but be political. As long as poverty, hunger, oppression, and war are political realities then politics will be of primary concern to the Church and to the preaching of the gospel.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff. I'm glad you're back at the blogging game.
Thanks Wes!
ReplyDeleteWell I agree some what with Mr. Ellis, but with a twist. There is a saying that goes "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". This goes for secular as well as religious relms.
ReplyDeleteFor example take Nixon, he is one example that shows how a government can go astray. Now a Biblical example would be the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They also let there political views dictate how they viewed Christ. Not all of them got it. Now as for me I think that we can't blame all our woes on the political landscape. After all this is a government of the people, and by the people, right? The moral fabric of this nation has been torn to shreds due to our watering down of our convictions. We as the body of Christ have let the ball slip out of our hands time and time again. So what are we to do? where are we to start? It all starts in our homes. If we spend more quality time as a family, turn off the DVD player and dust off the family Bible. Teaching our children to fear (respect) the Lord. To be compassionate and merciful. Teaching them to care for the lost the last the least and the little. John Lennon sang all you need is Love, and I wholeheartedly believe it. For if God is LOVE, then this song holds true ~ Audin
Audin,
ReplyDeleteGood Word :)