• I should take a moment and clear up misconceptions I’ve created about my politics, with apologies for glib and vague comments in sermons. First of all, I am political and have favorite blogs and commentators, political heroes from the distant and not-so-distant past, and what you might call emotional investment in the outcomes of elections. Of course my calling in Christ is to shepherd people of all persuasions, so my own views are secondary to that calling.
• It’s accurate to say I am conservative in the traditional (not political) English sense, “to preserve from destructive influence or decay.” I believe there are all manner of things that ought be kept from decay, chief among them “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), but also many cultural habits and practices of benefit to humankind. I admit to a smug contempt for being up-to-date and resonate with Lewis’s comment that he was “a dinosaur.” I do not believe novelty is inherently good, though it is standard baby-boomer dogma. Outside of sanctification, a work of the Holy Spirit, I do not believe in progress, since there is no reason to think a race bearing original sin is, by its own natural endowments, getting better and better. In other words, hope resides in God, not in optimism about the un-guided drift of history. For real change to occur in the life of any human being (or human society), he must know the touch of his Creator. I marvel that people who passed through some portion of the 20th century — a century of technology under the guiding hand of the angel of death — still believe everything is improving.
• I believe we ought to be loudly political in certain moments. Taking one example, I am profoundly troubled that the Health and Human Services mandate regarding insurance coverages for sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and so on may end up binding the consciences and conduct of people who oppose such things. Because we can vote and speak against such laws, we should. Two women are on trial in Europe for wearing crosses to work. It’s foolish to think it won’t happen here.
• Unfortunately, the most politically-minded people I know, Republicans or Democrats, tend to be angry most of the time, if not openly hateful toward those on the other side. There’s no room for this in the Church: you certainly don’t have to agree with your enemy, but you must love him. Since our battle is not against against flesh and blood, and our ultimate enemy is a malevolent spirit, any righteous anger we have is best directed toward him. Human anger is rarely fruitful (James 1:19-21). We have no reason to think God should bless people whose lives are opposed to the character outlined in the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:1-12, worth re-reading). I’ve always been struck by the fact that political people find it almost impossible to say anything positive about the opposing leader of the moment, or anything negative about their own leader of the moment. This seems naive to me. No political leader is the embodiment of perfect evil or perfect good. Currently, I’m happy to say, the two most politically-involved people I know (both running for office) are able to make realistic assessments of leaders on both sides.
• In the end, I admire the courage of any political leader who is willing to stand against what is bad (morally) and false, as both are expressed in Scripture. But there are character traits I admire also: magnanimity (“great-souled” – usually meaning “generous-spirited toward a rival”), humility (self-awareness), willingness to sacrifice self for others, a sense of humor, especially regarding the self. I wish I possessed all these in greater degree.
• Finally, remember that what Satan offered Jesus in Matt 4:8 was political power (“…all the kingdoms of the earth in their splendor…” ). American Christians seem perennially confused about this: the work that Jesus came to do was accomplished through love and humility. These are not a denial of power, but a very different and far more potent kind of power. Eventually, as a direct consequence of Jesus’ humility, every knee “in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” will bow to Jesus Christ as Lord (Php 2:9-11). It’s this day we are fighting toward, and we need to take Paul’s counsel to heart: “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Cor 10:4-5).