A Letter to Christian Friends

I am an American citizen - America is where I was born and live and will likely die. My life is connected to the character and wellbeing of the nation. As it goes, so I go; not the other way around, though I hope to have some influence, not simply as an individual, a lone-ranger of sorts, but in community with others who share a similar vision of faith, hope and love.

I strive for the Kingdom of God here and now, anticipating, in my own broken way, what God desires for God's creation and all of its creatures, great and small.

As such, I cannot hide my head in some spiritual sand. I cannot hold my breath, so to speak, until the flood of history ebbs, and I'm rescued by Jesus and taken to some sweet abode far, far, away.

This is not what Jesus intended.

As Jeremiah so wisely suggested to the exiles in Babylon - Pray for the city wherein you are, for your welfare is reliant on the city's welfare.

I am connected to America - its welfare is clearly my welfare.

With that in mind, I've been lately asking: What would the world, or America, look like if the Lord's Prayer petition were fully inaugurated: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?

Would there be unemployment?

Would there income inequality? Would some live in the lap of luxury, often excessive in its display, while others can barely scrape by, facing horrendous decisions about paying the rent, buying food or drug prescriptions?

Would there be children living in roach-infested hovels? Dying of starvation? Trapped in the wars fought by the powerful, for the powerful, in order to gain more power?

Would there be any form of racial, ethnic or gender discrimination?

Would there be anyone who couldn't have access to good health care?

Would there be children in dilapidated schools, with peeling paint and limited supplies, while other children attend lavishly outfitted schools with all the educational accoutrements needed?

Would there be gated communities?

Would there be skid rows?

Would there be hunger?

Nakedness.

People in prison?

Answering these questions is vital; there can be no escape from them, nor can we simply say: "Well, that's God's business. One of these days, God will provide the ways and the means for all of this being resolved. In the meantime, we have to abide in Jesus, love his word and wait for the day of redemption; that is, when we die, and leave this world behind, and our soul takes a flight of fancy into the higher realms, to be with Jesus forever."

This is not the gospel.

This is not what Paul meant when he said, "Our work in the Lord is never in vain."

Nor what Jesus meant when he called his disciples, and, at the end, commissioned them to go into all the world, and into all kinds of place, with all kinds of people, to establish the kingdom, by making disciples, baptizing and teaching them everything Jesus taught.

With that in mind, thinking of Jeremiah's advice for the exiles, and my own life, and that of my family and friends, intertwined with America and its future, I ask the question: Is there a political philosophy, system and program that moves toward this, the Kingdom of God, in any way at all?

Are there political systems that move away from this vision of the Kingdom of God?

If the Kingdom of God is coming toward us, then we go out to meet it, and lay before Jesus the gifts of our world, the gifts of our prayers and our labors.

We shall not bring in the Kingdom in its completion, of course. Only God coming toward us can and will do that.

But we can and we must contribute to that Kingdom here and now - that's what it means to be faithful to Jesus, to follow in his footsteps, to take up the cross he gives to us, to die to the self, that we might live for the love of God and neighbor.

I challenge my Christian friends to ask the Kingdom questions, and then look at the political philosophies offered to this nation - none of them are "perfect," that is, complete. All are lacking, but some are clearly more aligned with Kingdom life, dealing with the questions raised above.

We do not have the luxury of dismissing everything and hiding in a spiritual cave, waiting for God to come our way and clear it all up.

We must cast our lot and make decisions.

We must live, in other words, for something more than just ourselves, our welfare, our security, our comfort and our peace.

If you know me, you know the decisions I've made.

I'll not go into those here; you can read my other stuff.

But here, at least, let me pose the questions of the Kingdom.

And encourage the reader to hold the Kingdom in one hand and the political philosophies of the day in the other, and see how they contrast and compare.

And to ask, If I have but two options, and only one vote to cast, what option offers a greater congruency with the Kingdom of God?

Thoughts about Peace and Violence

Jesus says to his disciples, Love your enemies.

Here is where we meet the power and depth of love - not a feeling, mushy and gushy, but a way of life, a form of behavior, deeply and wonderfully ethical. The word love describes an ethic that is honorable and fair - as Jesus notes, just like God, who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

In the world described here, God has no enemies, but treats everyone with fairness, and that’s always kindness - with regard to sun and rain, two essential components necessary to life.

Of such things, God deprives no one … because God is love.

Jesus then adds to this commandment, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

In a world full of violence, where nation takes up sword against nation, with hardly a thought about consequences; in a world where politicians win elections by promising a strong military and preemptive strikes as needed, Christians have got to do some serious thinking about Jesus, the one they claim to follow.

I sometimes wonder if Christians follow other gods, the gods of war - as history is full of Christians killing Christians, and Christians, and in the name of Jesus, conquering other peoples and even enslaving with hardly a thought.

The great challenge facing Christianity in the early part of the 21^st century is violence, and the place of Christianity in the nations of the world, especially for Christians who live in powerful empires, or are caught up in war zones in places like Nigeria or Sudan.

It’s easy to give in to hatred and war. But Jesus offers us a different way of life. A way of life that fulfills the description of what God desires of us: to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.