Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
Early voting started this week in Indiana. It is also the week when we read the most quoted political gospel story, when Jesus is asked about taxes and offers up a great sound bite. This is precisely the sort of moment when we should address the elephant (and donkey) in the middle of the room.
The most obvious challenge for Christians in the US is how to be both Christian and a US citizen. Jesus has taught frequently about the impossibility of splitting our loyalties when it comes to money and God. Why then do so many of us think that we can serve these two masters? (it’ll work this time!) One of the tricks we offer is to say God always comes first, but when the flag or guns come out, we quickly pledge our allegiance.
Perhaps what I’m saying is that separate or not, people’s moral imaginations can be deeply harmful. Or incredibly noble.
Two of the twentieth century’s greatest moral minds had little trouble connecting their faith with their citizenship, promoting their Christian values in ways that served the greater good through civic action. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the exemplar of the civil rights movement’s religious foundation and Frances Perkins reveals the religious foundation of the New Deal. Both were unabashed Christian witnesses. But their service was to God, to the welfare of all people, and to the common good. There need be no separation between our bedrock values of love and Shalom from our civic lives. In fact, it is everything else that would be incompatible to both.
With love,
Drew+
