Christmas Eve 2012

It is the third day of Christmas and since the second day of Christmas is also a holiday here in Sweden, we've had some time to relax and pause after the hectic days of celebrating Christmas.  It was a wonderful few days for us however and I feel really satisfied and content with my journey through advent this year.  I am also happy for the quiet days that follow the high season as we look forward now to another year unfolding before us.
Doug preached on the 4th of Advent in a service that was full of joy and great music.  The sanctuary was packed full to the brim as people from all over the world gathered to celebrate the coming Christ child.  Sunday night was filled with baking cookies and making candy and a cheesecake in preparation for the celebrations that were to follow on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  There was also my Christmas Eve sermon that needed some last minute touching up so it was a full day.  Christmas Eve morning was filled with final sermon preparations and present wrapping.  Then we were off to church!
Held in the large sanctuary upstairs, the service was just lovely.  Candles surrounded us on all sides in addition to the altar candles and the advent candles and the Christ candle.  It was finally time to have 4 Advent candles lit alongside of the Christ candle.  A series of lessons and carols mark the evening and this year we enjoyed a special treat from a professional Chinese opera singer who is part of our church.  He sang two songs, including O Holy Night and it was simply divine.  My other favorite duo, Chris and Doug, sang Shepherd's Watch from Michael Card's The Promise.  They are, hands down, my favorite duo ever and I just love it when they sing together.  I posted my sermon in an earlier post.  If you'd like to read it, click here.  My theme was focused on the notion that there is really nothing humankind can do to keep God out of Christmas.  It's an important promise when the world looks darker and darker.
The service ends with Doug and I lighting our candles from the Christ candle and then passing that lit flame to all in the congregation who have obtained a candle for themselves.  We shared the words, Christ is the Light of the World, no go and be the same.  We sing carols reflecting the light of Christ, ending with Silent Night as the sanctuary is illuminated with candlelight and filled with the beauty of God's people singing his praise.
Christmas Eve is a special time.  I treasure our worship service and the time spent in the company of others.  It is a gift and privilege to serve our church in this way.  

Hope on Christmas Eve: God Will Not Be Kept Out

Michael Card renders the story of the incarnation in the following manner: A sign shall be given. A virgin will conceive. A human baby bearing, Undiminished deity. The glory of the nations. A light for all to see. That hope for all who will embrace, His warm reality. For all those who live in the shadow of death, A glorious light has dawned. For all those who stumble in the darkness, Behold your light has come. Immanuel, Our God is with us. And if God is with us, Who could stand against us? Our God is with us, Immanuel.

When I lived in Medellin, Colombia, city wide power outages were a regular part of our life there. We'd be sitting in our apartment, chatting, reading, or watching TV when in an instant, the lights would flicker and seconds later, all would go dark. We'd stumble around, searching for candles to light, seeking to illuminate our dark surroundings. It's really, really dark when every power source in an entire city is cut. You can barely see the hand in front of your face. And in those cases, when the darkness fell, it was up to us to find some light.

In many ways, the incarnation of Christ is the exact opposite of what happens during a power outage. I suppose we could say that spiritually speaking, we started in the dark and through the power of God's desire to bring light into our world, Jesus came and chased away the darkness. But that source of light came on its own merits, ordained by God. We are not the ones who have to go and find a source to illuminate our spiritual darkness. God has taken the initiative and brought the light to us.

For me, at Christmas, the core of the gospel revolves around God coming to us. The light that shines in our spiritual darkness is a light that is given to us, not one that we have to search endlessly for. It is given to us because God never tires of bringing it. At Christmas, we must never forget that Jesus came to us. Not because we deserved it or because we even knew that we needed it. He came to us because he knew that, on our own, we couldn't come to him. It is God's initiative in our lives and in our world that allows the light of Christ to shine. And that is why it can never be snuffed out...no one has the power to stop God's initiative to bring light to our lives through the person of Jesus Christ. No one can impede the love of God in Christ from reaching us. God's love can and will overcome all obstacles. And what is really quite amazing is that God creatively seeks out ways to reveal himself to us. He adjusts and changes the manner in which we might see him, so deep is his desire for us to have an abiding relationship with him. This image of God coming to us, of entering our world, of adjusting his appearance so that we might more easily meet him is beautifully illustrated by Soren Kierkegaard, a wise, Danish theologian. It's the story of a king and a maiden. “The king was the wealthiest, most powerful respected king in all the land. No one dared oppose him or speak a word against him. Now, as powerful and as respected as he was, he had one problem. He had fallen in love with a maiden who was a peasant. How could he show her his love? The fact that he was rich and powerful and famous was actually a barrier. He thought about allowing his knights to escort him to her humble cottage and demand by his authority that she marry him. But that wouldn't do. He wanted a wife, not a slave. He wanted someone to love him and share her life with him, someone who was happy and eager to be along his side. He also thought he could shower her with gifts and jewels and robes, but no, he didn't want to buy her either. He wanted her to know that his love was free. And well, like anyone else, he also wanted to know that her love for him was freely given back. So how was the king going to find a way that his love could grow between him and this peasant woman? Well here's the amazing thing. He didn't disguise himself as a poor man, he actually became poor. He loved her so much that he denounced his throne, stepped aside from his wealth and his kingly power and came adorned in the clothes of humility and of love. And so it is for us, that this is how we know that God loves us as he does. What we celebrate in the incarnation of Jesus is that our great king also set aside his power and his authority and came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, as a tiny little baby, lying in a manger, that we might know his great love for us.”

The key for me is that God comes to us. And he comes to us on our terms, so that we might choose to love him and accept him as our lord and savior, not because we have to, but rather because we can and want to. God does not want to enslave us or lure us to him with riches and wealth. Likewise, He will not demand that we follow him and prioritize him. He will allow us to walk away, to choose another, to reject his presence and his lordship. He will allow us to choose a pathway of destruction, perhaps even evil at times. But those are our choices, not his. And our choices do not ever stop his choice to come after us. That is why when God chose to send his son into the world he did so by stooping low so that no matter our situation in life, we will always be able to meet him face to face. The light that is Christ is a hovering light. It follows our darkness with a longing to burst forth at any moment. So while there are many things in life that we perhaps chase, the light of Christ is the one thing that perpetually chases us. We do not have to search for the light that is Christ. It is constantly present because God has taken the initiative to send his light to our world and no one nor no thing can thwart that mission.

I suppose for me, that is why, the conversation about keeping Christ in Christmas is one that I am not overly fond of. The very language of keep implies that somehow God could actually be excluded from the event. If we buy into this notion that if somehow by saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, we're kicking God out of his own event, we've given ourselves far too much power. Are we really so shallow to believe that God is so fragile that his very presence can be blocked by our actions? Have we forgotten what God overcame 2000 years ago when Jesus came into our world? Remember, it was virgin who bore a son. It was a Jew who showed up in the Roman empire. It was a barn where the king of the universe was born. It was shepherds who saw the light and ran to pay homage and a powerful king who saw a star and took measures to start a slaughter. And even so, the incarnate Christ lived on. Why do we think we can actually keep Christ out of Christmas through our puny actions?

Of course, we wonder a bit, don't we, where the light of Christ shines when country-men kill one another in civil wars, when angry young men shoot innocent children, when “acts of God” pillage and rampage poor communities with fire, flood, and earthquake. But in the midst of tragedy do we not always see acts of kindness and love, graces abounding even in the most gruesome situations? To decide that the darkness that tragedy casts on our earth is a reason to claim that God is absent is to miss the fullness of why he sent his light into the darkness in the first place. God saw the darkness of humankind and knew that we needed a savior. God saw the hopelessness embedded in tragedy and thus decided to come into this world to provide a way of peace, a thread of hope, the promise of joy, and a love that lasts to break the dark monotony of the things this world continually produces. So perhaps instead of asking where God is in the midst of human tragedy, why not cry out with a loud voice of Thanksgiving to God that he choose to leave his throne above and enter this dark world with the light of lights so that we don't have to stumble around in the darkness of this world without his peace, joy, hope and love to accompany us? Imagine how tragic the world would be without the hope of the incarnation.

And that is why I believe with my whole heart that God cannot be kept out. God cannot be left out. God will find a way, as he has always found a way, to take the initiative, to be the bearer of light, to chase us with his unrelenting love, to show up in the most unexpected places of our world. One of the most moving accounts of Christmas I have ever read was a rendering of a prisoner of war's experience in an enemy prison where he had been tortured and where the future of his life was uncertain every single day. He began, “On Christmas night we held our simple, moving service. We began with the Lord's Prayer, after which a choir sang carols. We all joined in the singing, nervous and furtive at first, fearing the guards would disrupt the service if we sang too loudly. With each hymn, however, we grew bolder, and our voices rose with emotion. Between each hymn, I read a portion of the story of Christ's birth from the pages of the Bible I had copied. "'And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.'" The night air was cold, and we shivered from its effect and from the fever that still plagued some of us. The sickest among us, unable to stand, sat on the raised concrete sleeping platform in the middle of the room, blankets around their quivering shoulders. Many others, stooped by years of torture, or crippled from injuries sustained during their shoot down, stood, some on makeshift crutches, as the service proceeded. The light bulbs hanging from the ceiling illuminated our gaunt, unshaven, dirty, and generally wretched congregation. But for a moment we all had the absolutely exquisite feeling that our burdens had been lifted. This was our service, the only one we had ever been allowed to hold. It was more sacred to me than any service I had attended in the past, or any service I have attended since. We gave prayers of thanks for the Christ child, for our families and homes, for our country. We half expected the guards to barge in and force us to conclude the service. Every now and then we glanced up at the windows to see if they were watching us. But when I looked up at the bars that evening, I actually wished the guards had been looking in. I wanted them to see us-- faithful, joyful, triumphant. The last hymn sung was "Silent Night." Many of us wept.” 

God cannot be kept out. Not by the evil action of humanity, not by prison walls, not by sorrow, not by death. His coming means that these things do not get the last word. His light will relentlessly break the darkness because it is central to his identity to reach for us. God cannot NOT love us and therefore there is nothing we can ultimately do to prevent God from dwelling among us for if God's presence is dependent upon our righteous actions, he would've left the earth long ago...in fact, it is likely that he would never have come at all. We are not righteous. We are in need of a Savior. We all stumble in the darkness whether it be from a wrong doing we have committed or a wrong doing done to us...it matters not, we cannot overcome the darkness of humanity by the power of our own will...only God can and thank God he does!

Author Rachel Held shared this good news last week. “God can be wherever God wants to be. God needs no formal invitation. We couldn’t “systematically remove” God if we tried. If the incarnation teaches us anything, it’s that God can be found everywhere: in a cattle trough, on a throne, among the poor, with the sick, on a donkey, in a fishing boat, with the junkie, with the prostitute, with the hypocrite, with the forgotten, in places of power, in places of oppression, in poverty, in wealth, where God’s name is known, where it is unknown, with our friends, with our enemies, in our convictions, in our doubts, in life, in death, at the table, on the cross, and in every kindergarten classroom from Sandy Hook to Shanghai.  God cannot be kept out.”

So this Christmas let's celebrate the reality that the Christ of Christmas is here to stay. Let's rejoice that the Christ of Christmas came into this world and dwells among us. Let us praise our loving and gracious God who always relentlessly pursues us and our world. Let us give thanks that the light of Christ will always find a way.

Friends, as we prepare to light our Christmas candles from the Christ candle, as symbol of our desire to join God in his desire to see his world flooded with his light, let us remember that the very name of our church, Immanuel, it means God with Us. And let us remember that there's not a thing that we or anyone else on this earth can do to alter that reality. God is with us. Today. Tomorrow. And always. Amen.

My Husband's Keen Insight on Guns

Doug wrote this great article in the wake of the Newton, CT shootings.  He was pretty deeply disturbed by the discourse and I am so proud of him for these thoughts.  They are appearing on Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed Blog which you can get to by clicking the link below.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/12/21/confessions-of-a-former-gun-enthusiast/

Please take the time to read his thoughts.  They are so honest and insightful.  I love him all the more for this perspective.

The Real Pro-Life Issue is Gun Control

Where to begin today? Most everyone I am coming into contact with is quite devastated by the killing spree that once again took place in the United States.  Because the attack was on an elementary school and the bulk of the victims were small children, there has been a special poignancy to this incident. Even so, there are the voices that are rallying against gun control, insisting that the guns don't go off by themselves. Others continue the battle cry of wanting to equip more people with guns so that they can be protected. BBC news from the UK reported last night that they had gotten reports of some requesting that teachers have weapons in their desk to prevent this kind of thing from happening. They report it with the kind of incredulity that does indeed defy understanding. Why do we think MORE guns, MORE weapons, MORE access will lessen our gun problem? Of course, the related issue are the mentally ill, but in my opinion, American society seems to value the right to bear arms much more than they value providing real and effective health care to those in need. I do not understand that. Which leads me to my main point today. I really think the Christian church is majoring in the minors instead of focusing on what we really need to be about in order to create a more peaceful, loving, compassionate society, which are indeed the hallmarks of our faith. I do not understand why the central concern of the church is not going after gun control. What are we protecting? What are we accomplishing by allowing the access to guns to proliferate? Why is this not seen as the most key pro-life question of our day?

So I struggle a bit to understand why the church has been so willing to fight to the teeth to get abortion de-legalized yet remains silent on gun control.

I struggle a bit to understand why so many churches have been so willing to fight to the teeth to make sure that gay marriage stays illegal. The logic here is that somehow preventing two people who love one another to enter into an institution of commitment and care is more important to us as a society than ridding our streets of assault weapons that kill innocent people. I do not understand that.

I struggle to understand why the church is not on the forefront of fighting for fair, accessible, good health care, both physical and mental, for every citizen in our nation, seeking to ensure that those who are ill receive the medical attention they need in order to help them live as productive and safe members of our society.

I struggle to understand why keeping Christ in Christmas has been reduced to pithy slogans and petty comments towards those who prefer happy holidays over Merry Christmas. Keeping Christ in Christmas requires a much greater commitment to societal change than simply posting it on Facebook or letting it roll off your tongue with a self-righteous tone in tact.

I will never accept that more guns are the answer. I will never accept that we can't reign this problem in in the United States. I will never accept that the proliferation of assault weapons, hand guns and semi-automatic weapons in the hands of citizens has anything to do with the 2nd amendment. I will continue to fight for greater gun control as a central Pro-Life issue.  You can argue with my perspective until you are blue in the face but if you are a Christian, you need to help me understand why protecting our gun laws reflects Christ's vision for his people and how it helps us create a more peaceful, loving, and compassionate, society.  And if you are "pro-life", you need to explain to me why gun control is not at the center of your fight for life in our society.

Walking in the Winter Wonderland

We had a rare weekend when neither one of us were preaching in church so we decided to treat ourselves to a little overnight in the cozy seaside town of Dalarö.  While only about a one hour drive from our home in Stockholm, enough away from the city that we felt like we were really away in another world.  The weather cooperated nicely with our plans to spend our first winter weekend in the archipelago by dumping at least a foot of snow on the surroundings!  The drive out there was simply breathtaking with the trees heavy with new fallen snow and the dazzling brightness that the blankets of snow all around provided.  We checked into the Strand Hotel around 2.00 p.m. We realized that if we didn't get out and take a walk right away, the daylight would soon disappear so we dropped our stuff and headed out.  The town is quaint and lovely, dotted with gorgeous homes and wonderful views.  It is a sleepy, quiet place in the dead of winter with many shops sporting signs on their doors that they have gone home to hibernate and will re-open again in the spring.  
It had been a long time since we have had such a huge snowfall and the snow was the perfect consistency.  Dry, fluffy and light, it was a pleasure to wander the narrow streets while kicking up the white stuff all around us.
We returned to the hotel to be greeted by afternoon fika.  What a wonderful way to spend a chilly afternoon!  We were the only ones there for quite some time and finally two others came in for a coffee.  Our room sported a lovely sea view with a gorgeous balcony that would one would surely spend hours and hours on during the summer.  Since it was covered with a foot of snow, we didn't spend too much time out there!  The rooms are a little tired but it was a cozy spot to relax and unwind.  In the evening we decided to take a night walk.  The town was beautifully lit and it was easy to find our way through the narrow streets.  It wasn't cold and the snow just kept falling and falling.  The Waxholm boats came in and out often ensuring that folks could get where they needed to go even in the middle of winter.
In the morning I decided to take a little walk through town.  The bakery had opened and the smell of cinnamon and cardamon was wafting through the air.  People were out shoveling, the plow was going and folks were much more prone to say hello than they are in the big city of Stockholm.  I returned to a beautifully set dining room where breakfast awaited us.  A special table by the window overlooking the sea greeted us and we enjoyed a beautiful, relaxed morning.
We had decided to take a Waxholm boat out to our friends' place in the archipelago.  We marveled at the fact that in the dead of winter one can still hop on a boat and cruise through the archipelago, arriving at the most remote of destinations. Sweden is great in using their land all year round and their tried and true expression: There is no bad weather, only bad clothing certainly rings true with its inhabitants.  There were a few other hearty souls boarding the boat with us that morning and we made stops at 5 different islands.  We disembarked and had about a 20 minute walk to our friends' place.  Again, we were simply dazzled by the surroundings.  It felt as though we had entered Narnia. The way the snow hung on the pine trees, the occasional sea views that peeked through the landscape, the quiet stillness that freshly fallen snow creates were soothing to the mind and body.  We've been to this place in the summer so it was really cool to see it in all of its winter glory as well.  Upon arrival, Kjell got two wood fires burning in their stoves and Marilyn lit the candles so a cozy afternoon was on its way!  Wonderful conversation, good food and warm laughter created a great day together.  By the time we had to leave to catch our boat back, the day was waning and darkness was setting in.  We got to the pier and used our cell phones to signal the boat that there were passengers waiting to board!  It was such a different experience being out in the archipelago in the darkness and cold but it was intriguing and interesting none the less. We kept remarking how lucky we were that it was a snowy weekend as rain and mud would not have been as charming!
We returned to a car buried in snow.  We got it cleared, cranked up the heat and found our way back home.  Our wintry weekend in the archipelago was delightful.  Tons of snow, a cozy retreat, the stark beauty of the archipelago on a dimly lit winter day and time with our friends in their beautiful island paradise are the gifts I take from this wonderful time away.

A Happy Thanksgiving

I have learned over the years of living abroad to just take Thanksgiving Day off and turn it into my own little holiday.  I hate working on Thanksgiving.  It is the one day in the entire year when I yearn to be in step with my home culture.  Maybe it's because it's the only holiday where most of the nation celebrates in very similar ways.  We eat the same food, we share in similar traditions like football and table games, and perhaps most of all, it's a holiday dedicated to being together and giving thanks.  So I enjoy taking the day, making the meal and sharing it with a unique group of people each year.  We often try to have at least one person around our table who has never celebrated the American Thanksgiving tradition.  It is a wonderful experience to introduce this custom to our global friends!  This year, in addition to 2 other Americans, we shared our table with folks from Malawi, Ghana and Canada.  Our friend from Ghana was experiencing her first Thanksgiving ever!
The Thanksgiving adventure always begins with finding all the right foods.  Since I had been in the US in October I stocked up on some essentials so that made it pretty easy.  Still, I had to go to three different stores to find my turkey and was lucky to find a 12 pounder.  My oven is so small however, that one any bigger would not fit!  I cook it breast side down and find that the meat stays nice and moist that way.
The food turned out great and we feasted and feasted until we could eat no more.  That is, until we brought out the pumpkin and apple pies!  Then we found a little more room for a few more bites!

Doug prepared a Thanksgiving Day quiz and because Thursday was a normal work day in Sweden, we didn't eat until 7.00 p.m. so we didn't have to worry about taking a Thanksgiving Day nap...we just went to bed when it was all over!
I enjoyed making the food, setting the table, and sharing in the meal with great friends.  We thought of our families across the pond, gathering to celebrate in different ways and of course, wished they were with us.  But we were happy to know that everyone was eating well on this special Thanksgiving Day.  We have an abundant life and it is good to give thanks for all the riches we enjoy.
Note to self: Do not give an already prone to flatulence dog turkey scraps before you go to bed.  Let's just say the delicious aromas from the day quickly disappeared as Tanner recycled them!

A Post-Election Sermon on Faith and Politics

We've been working our way through a sermon series entitled Tough Issues, helping people think about faith and science, suffering, the Bible's tough texts, etc.  Today the theme was faith and politics, timely after the US election last week.  My biblical texts were Psalm 72:1-4, 12-14; Matthew 5:3-10; Ephesians 1:19-23.   If you'd rather listen to it than read the text, this link will take to you to our church's podcast site.  It has been a blessed week for me, preparing this sermon.  I have very strong political opinions but I have never felt more strongly that we have to find a better way to agree to disagree on political matters.  Our Christian witness has never felt more fragile and if we have any hope to make a positive impression on the politics of our world, we must learn to respect one another and come away from the vitriol that has so damaged the democratic process in the United States.  Thank you for your interest.  I hope it will be a blessing to you.

Here we are, gathered to worship God, on the Sunday following a difficult and hard fought battle for the Presidency of the United States of America. And we have gathered today to talk about faith and politics. We have also gathered today to worship God, on Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, is also recognized as a special day for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on the 11^th of November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on this date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month," in accordance with the Armistice, signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente. World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. The 11^th of November was specifically dedicated by King George V on the 7^th of November 1919 as a day of remembrance for members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I.

I suppose nothing could be more appropriate when discussing religion and politics than to remember the lives that have been lost in the wars of our world and to give full consideration to the priority of peace that I genuinely feel is central to our gospel. Because at their worst, politics polarize and often bring out the worst in people. Politics can create sharp divisions among people and create a mood of acrimony and distrust. But at their best, politics help us to think more clearly about what we value, about what we stand for. For a democracy to thrive, there must be politics because in order for a democracy to thrive, people must be allowed their opinions and invited to participate in the process. But let me also say that while politics and faith have something to do with one another, they don't have everything to do with one another.

I am not here this morning to espouse a particular way of thinking or to persuade you to join a particular political movement. In fact, years ago, a favorite evangelical author named Tony Campolo wrote a book entitled “Was Jesus a Democrat or a Republican?” And the answer, of course, was neither. What is useful for us to consider are some of the complexities that we encounter when we begin to think about politics with faith as our background. Additionally, I feel that we are called to be engaged in public life but that does not mean that all Christians everywhere must ultimately share the same perspective. In many ways, Christians should be the leaders in how to have vigorous yet civil debate. We should be able to model well how to agree to disagree while allowing ourselves to be sharpened by one another's views and perspectives. I do believe that we can come to a better understanding of what it means to take our faith into the realm of politics and learn to think more critically about who God wants us to be as we engage society on the various social issues of our time, while accepting that our roads to achieving the desired outcomes may differ sharply.

Most importantly for me is to affirm that Jesus is Lord of all but to not simply passively yield to that reality by adopting a kind of fatalistic way of thinking. The former president of North Park Theological Seminary, Dr. Jay Phelan, expresses his concern over simply declaring that no matter happens in the political sphere, Jesus is still Lord and King without considering the consequences of disengaging on this principle alone. He writes, “Over the last few weeks Christian friends, liberal and conservative, have attempted to proactively console themselves by suggesting we remember that whoever wins the election, “Jesus is still King and God is still on the throne.” Well, OK. But excuse me if I don’t find this particularly consoling. The problem with this bit of pious rhetoric is that it implies it doesn’t matter how we vote. No matter who wins “God is still on the throne” and, evidently, in control of things to such an extent that nothing bad can happen. But Jesus was king and God was still on the throne when the extraordinarily foolish and ostensibly Christian rulers of Great Britain, France, German, Austria and Russia plunged the world into the bloodbath we now call World War I. Jesus was king and God was still on the throne when Lenin led a successful Communist revolution in Russia. Jesus was king and God was still on the throne when Stalin starved and butchered his own people and when Hitler’s Germany shot, gassed and starved Europe’s Jews. Jesus was king and God was still on the throne when Harry Truman made the ghastly decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Of course, the gruesome litany of murderous and foolish decisions made by leaders could be extended to the present day. Names like Vietnam, Cambodia, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Bosnia and Iraq continue to haunt our dreams. Claiming comfort from Jesus-is-still-king-and-God-is-still-on-the-throne risks our becoming passive and indifferent in the face of difficult decisions. Standing idly or smugly by, shrugging our shoulder in the face of defeat or victory is not a sign of spiritual maturity but spiritual blindness. It does not amount to stoic acceptance but sheer irresponsibility. The fact is that God has empowered us, his creatures, his people, to work for the healing of the world or press forward in its destruction. The God of the Bible is frequently frustrated with his people’s failures to live up to his commands and follow his ways. He starts the world over with Noah and threatens to do so with Moses. He rages over Israel’s infidelity (see Hosea) and warns of impending judgment. He does not force the kings or the people to do what is right and good. He rather warns them of the outcome of disobedience. The world is not running on an auto-pilot set by God—quite the contrary. Although God will redeem and renew the world, it is now in the not always particularly capable hands of flawed human beings. It is also in the hands of the church. Our gospel, our compassion, our hope, our love are supposed to make the world a different, saner, more beautiful, more just place—tasks the church has frankly botched. But for whatever reason, God has entrusted us with his world. What we do matters. We can make the world a better or much, much worse place.”

What Dr. Phelan is urging us to do is to hold in tension the reality that Jesus-is-still-king-and-God-is-still-on-the-throne but not allow that truth to let us sit idly by while our societies act in ways that completely undermine the gospel. The real question for us is perhaps this: how do we hold in balance the shaping of our societies with values we hold dear while understanding that the role of government is not necessarily to create a more Christian society? And more importantly, how can we as individual Christians and as a church, seek to fulfill our gospel calling by acting in ways that government cannot or will not? I believe that we can all agree that our gospel, our compassion, our hope, our love are supposed to make the world a different, saner, more beautiful, more just place. We can all affirm that our hope does not lie in world leaders but rather on Christ himself who is indeed Lord over all. But this does not mean that every event, every decision, every course of action that unfolds in our world points to it being God's will for our world. And our engagement with the world should always be to promote in clearer and more concrete ways the love of God in Christ, which must include speaking out against societal evils. Phelan finishes his article by saying that “our involvement in this world, for good or ill, matters. Our attempts to be agents of healing and justice, matter. Our votes matter. We are partners in what the Jews call tikkun olam—the healing of the world.” But we must also remember that at the end of every political battle ever waged, the bottom line for Christians is simply this: Whoever sits on the political thrones of our world should not make one bit of a difference in our obligation to follow Jesus. Some leaders perhaps make our task more difficult, but even so, no political power should ever undermine our ability to pursue our faith in Christ in real and concrete ways in our societies.

At the heart of where our faith meets our politics is to realize that political decisions affect all of humanity and as Christ-followers, we are called to seek to justice, show compassion, and watch out for the poor and marginalized of our societies. The best way to achieve these outcomes is disputable. That's why we have vigorous debate and differing political philosophies, one not necessarily more Christian than another. But we must realize that political decisions affect how countries tax their citizens, how money is spent, what kind of things will be legal or illegal, how the poor and disenfranchised get taken care of or not. We must ask ourselves, which political trajectory, in our opinion, more deeply supports or aggravates the kind of society that I believe Christ wants us to live in? Here our faith informs our politics. So for instance, as we read the Beatitudes, these beautiful verses that start the sermon on the mount, have we considered how they inform our political philosophy? We need to ponder how the poor and those who mourn, the humble and those hungry for justice, along with those who show mercy and have pure hearts and work for peace are particularly blessed. We must consider how our politics reflect the virtues in the sermon on the mount. For in doing so, we begin to understand how our faith can inform our politics. We are hard-pressed to get clear directives from scripture regarding social issues. But Jesus has given us a framework from which we can test our ideologies and think critically about how to achieve the kingdom on earth that he longs for. Don't mistake me. It is not only through our politics that Christ's vision can be obtained. Hardly. But the challenge for us as Christians is to seek to test what Christ has given us as Biblical principles against our political philosophies and then to align those choices when possible. And even among the most sincere Christians, there will be sharp disagreements about how to apply what we learn in Scripture to our political philosophies. And perhaps that is why I lifted up the role of peace in this process above all else. Friends, we are not called to always agree on social and political issues, but we are called to live in peace with one another. To accept our differences and respect that there are different ways of thinking about important matters. We must walk away from the name calling and the questioning of one's sincerity as a follower of Christ based on political alignments. Because the manner in which our faith informs our politics is important but not ultimate. What is ultimate is the unity of the body of Christ and the witness that we share within society. Learning to disagree with respect and appreciation is just as important as considering the ways in which God's word and your own faith journey inform your political thinking. Thomas Jefferson once said “I have never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” If the Christian community cannot lead by example with this commitment, then our faith will not matter to the world around us anyway.

Finally, we must be careful to not place the mantle of Christian on a particular political ideology. My own country has been most egregious when it comes to creating these alignments. It is wrong to empirically state that any one political philosophy is more Christian than another. There is no one political system in our world that is a clear reflection of the Christian life. You can believe that certain aspects of a political platform support a value that you have based on your faith or you can embrace a certain political ideology because it more clearly reflects the way in which you believe God wants us to be engaged in society, but we must be very cautious to label these politics Christian. For in doing so, we set up divisions between people because we are subtlety saying to others, if your beliefs and priorities don't match mine, then clearly, you are not as Christian as I am, and really, what could be a more ridiculous accusation than that? This kind of thinking returns us to the judgmental spirit that we all know only hurts the church in society and makes the church look foolish.

Friends, I believe we should have strong political opinions and be engaged in the political process because Christ has called us to live in our world and make a difference. And our faith in Christ should deeply inform the ways we think about politics. And yet, we must also remember that no matter what political system is in place, we always have a responsibility to reflect the deep longings of the prophet Micah when he says, “He has told you, what the Lord requires of thee...do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.” As our faith informs our politics, let us never lose sight of the most significant calling we have, and that is to love God and to love others. Even those with whom we may sharply disagree. Amen.