The Church's Role in a Politicized World

Here was my opening statement from worship on November 7-8: 

This week, we saw a rather dramatic shift in the power balance of the two legislative branches of our federal government. Some folks, for good reasons, are elated. Some folks, for good reasons, are disappointed. Some folks, for bad reasons, are elated. And some folks, for bad reasons, are disappointed. That is how democracy works when it works.  

The church has an important voice in the body politic. It is not the church’s role to praise or to bury Caesar, but to try to discern that gray area of giving to Caesar what belongs to Caeser, in a world that belongs to God. And however you, and the person across the room, feel and speak about partisan politics individually, we are collectively called to a higher order of peace, justice, freedom, compassion, and generosity, that constantly intersects with partisan politics. So we rightly demand justice from those in the highest positions to offer justice, whether a Presbyterian seminarian newly arrived on the hill, a long-serving darling of Christian Nationalists, or a professed agnostic. When we say, “Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior,” we are pledging allegiance to a higher order than any particular nation, ideology, or human institution. In fact, while constitutional democracy offers a great degree of the human freedom that we value, we should note that the Christian church, and the message of the gospel does not depend on any particular form of government. The church was born in a vassal state of an empire. So, whether a persecuted minority or a free-to-assemble people, the church has lived through every imaginable form of government and are at our best when we are not beholden to any allegiance other than to God. 

The church expresses our allegiance to Christ by speaking rightly and forthrightly about God’s will in human affairs. Jesus did that often is by telling parables about the Reign of God. In today’s service, we will hear two parables, one of which comes from the prophet Isaiah, the other is the same parable taken up and reinterpreted by Jesus. Through them, we listen for how God's will can be done on earth as it is in heaven.