Before I begin, please note that I am in the process of shutting down my High Noon Blog. Starting In June, I will be exclusively using my new SubStack (Sifting Sand) for my blog posts and podcasts. Please consider signing up. It is free.
Last week, I was at an event focused on how to disciple people under forty. Most of the attendees were pastors. The presenter showed how younger people are interested in social justice issues. Struggle with anxiety. Want leaders to talk about deep concerns like climate change or gun violence.
One pastor listening to the presentation contended that people of his generation, when they hear the words “gun control,” they hear politics. The presenter and the person then talked about how a younger generation might see these concerns as social justice issues and a different generation see them as political issues. Their conversation gave the impression that if its politics, that is verboten in the church’s life.
I did not want to get us off track, so I kept my mouth closed. But the way they framed the conversation really bothered me. On the superficial level, I think it is better to use the words “gun violence prevention” than “gun control”. While controlling guns can be part of gun violence prevention, there are a lot of other means and methods to reduce gun violence that do not involve controlling guns in the ways that immediately come to mind.
On a deeper level, I am not sure what the difference is between social justice and politics. Social justice is just a way of framing justice work. Working for justice is inherently political. One way we publicly love our neighbor. I contend that justice work is also a spiritual discipline. Watch this sermon from the season of Lent if you want to delve deeper into my thinking about this.
One of my favorite live albums of all times is Precious Friends. Pete Seeger introduces the song “Sailin’ Up, Sailin’ Down,” on the album, by contending, “but what we do is bring people together at the edge of the river. And you know when you bring people together for any purpose whatsoever, you’re in politics.” I think he is right.
Every time a church gathers it’s political. The Greek word we translate as church is ecclesia. Greek speakers did not originally use the word for a religious gathering, but civic gatherings in Greece. Going further, saying Jesus is Lord is a political statement. For the earliest Christians, they were contending Jesus was Lord, not Cesar. Anytime we talk about the Kingdom of God/Kin-dom of God/Reign of God, we are making an attack on the political powers of this world.
Being a Christian is a political statement. The issue is not politics. Christians cannot avoid being political. Where the problem lies is partisan politics. Are we being identified with Jesus or being identified with a secular political party? This is where it gets tricky.
The first Sunday School class I taught, at my current appointment, was based on Andy Stanley’s book Not In It To Win It. In the book, Andy contends that when we pick a partisan political side, we hurt our ability to share the good news of Jesus. I believe he is right. The tougher issue is that sometimes working for justice looks partisan, even when your goal and focus is on Jesus and God’s work in the world.
This was brought home to me when I saw an article United Methodist News printed. It is entitled “Why Our Church Is In Trouble.” The author contends the United Methodist church is in trouble. Uses data to make the case. Then he engages in the correlation-causation logical fallacy.
He engages in this fallacy by then blaming the justice work of the United Methodist bishops and the General Board of Church and Society. Offers no evidence that what they are doing is the reason our church is in decline statistically speaking. It’s a neat trick. State there is a problem and then blame what you don’t like in the church for causing the problem with no evidence linking the two.
His ultimate contention is that the leadership of the United Methodist church is using their power to push an ideological agenda that is political. And from his perspective, the wrong politics. I imagine, though if you asked the bishops or talked with folks at GBCS, that is not how they see their work and ministry.
This is the problem with politics. We cannot avoid it. You gather people for a purpose, it’s political. What one person sees as an act of justice, another person sees as an act of political partisanship. Justice work in the church requires grace and humility.
We need to be gracious to others when we see they trying to discern their next faithful step and it leads to political activity. Again, we cannot avoid politics. When we work towards justice in the world, we need to be humble. Are we doing this as an act of faith or for some other reason? Will this action help my ability to share the Good News of Jesus or turn people away from Jesus?
“But its political” is not an excuse for not publicly loving our neighbors. As long as we proclaim Jesus as our Lord and gather as a church community, we are engaged in politics. Pardon the tautology, but if the church wants to be relevant, we need to be relevant. One way we are relevant is to engage in the challenging work of justice in the world.
Leave a Reply