Nomads Always Have a Home
Remember when you were 9 or 12 or 15 and somebody in your world -- maybe an uncle or a grandmother or a friend’s dad -- told you that there are two things you should never discuss with other people? I would love to see how that person navigates conversations in 2021.
These days it honestly seems trite to discuss anything but politics and religion and the places where they intertwine, which for Christians right now seems like nearly every place. This is true of both our Christian relationships and those we have with non-believers, and it can create an uncomfortable social discourse if we don’t think clearly about how to handle it.
So how should we talk about politics and religion as it pertains to both current events and whatever direction our politics and our culture go in the future?
Humility (always)
The first answer -- as is often the first answer with any question we have -- is to do so with humility. No matter how many articles we’ve read or podcasts we’ve listened to, we do not have all the answers about what’s going on in the world.
And in places where we do not have all the answers (which is all of them), defaulting to listening first, speaking less, asking good questions and saying “I don’t know” often is to emulate what Paul in Philippians 2 when he says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
No Political Home
As Christians, it has become increasingly clear that we have no comfortable political home. There are many, many downsides to having all information available whenever we want it, but one upside is that it has revealed to us that there are incredibly problematic positions on both sides of the aisle that we are unable to reconcile with what the Bible says.
This is sad and something we should lament. This has probably always been true at some point in different societies like ours. It is, in fact, something we should expect in countries such as ours because when church is separated from state and state is built around economic, medical and military principles, there is no doubt that at some point those principles are going to clash with the theology of the Bible.
These days it seems as if it clashes more than ever from every angle. While there is certainly overlap of goodness from both political parties, there is also the transparent overlap of a specific wickedness that runs perpendicular to truth. It is something that we can no longer reason away.
Binary or Nomadic?
As Christians -- from literally the beginning of our ancient faith -- we have been a nomadic people so in some sense it feels normal to not have a comfortable home in the binary political world we live in. But it also feels frustrating and might make some of us anxious. That’s understandable, but it’s also expected. Consider Jesus’ words in John 17:15-18.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
In these four verses, Jesus acknowledges that 1. There is evil in the world to stay away from, 2. We are not to eject ourselves from the world completely and 3. There is one ultimate truth.
People are tired. They are tired of engaging in bitterness and exhausted from placing hope in a political party that they know in their hearts cannot be a savior. And yet, what option do they have?
In Barack Obama’s recent book, A Promised Land, he writes about how his wife, Michelle, used to tell him that he was frustrated with the world because he sees it as it is and also as it should be.
This is our reality, too! The difference between us and the world, though, is that we know the way to bring the “as it is” closer to the “as it should be” is not at the voting booth or in congress but by the power of the Holy Spirit. And while this way will lead some to say that we are foolish, for some it will provide a great hope outside of the perpetually endless cycle that they find themselves in.
We’re going to be faced with the challenge as Christians that when we do talk about politics and religion, we will almost certainly have to say “I’m not in that camp, and I’m not in that camp either, and this is why, this is what I believe. This is the Jesus I emulate.” And maybe more importantly, we’re going to have to say, “And if that leaves me politically nomadic, then so be it. Because there are realities that matter far more than my political identity in America in 2021.”
The quiet part has now been said out loud now on every side. There is no comfortable, reasonable position for us as Christians based on how the country looks right now. We should not disengage from this reality completely -- I do not ask that you take them out of the world -- which means that we must bring gospel-centered truth to a city and a country that is so desperately longing for it.
This has always been our calling as Christians, and at Mosaic -- where our vision is to see the gospel and its fruits cover every square inch of Richardson -- we will continue to double down on living not for temporary kingdoms of this world but for the one that has no end.