Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

11/03/2020 is coming, and a lot of people are going to be disappointed. It matters not which side of the aisle they are on or which side "wins," more than half of the nation will be disappointed. As important as this election may be, it is not going to resolve the major issues that have divided the nation over the last decades and increasing in vehemence of late. We have forgotten how to talk respectfully to one another. We have forgotten how to belong to one another beyond our political differences. We have forgotten that there are things which are more important than who wields power. Elections do not change racial demographics. Elections do not resolve economic and social crises. Elections do not fix racial disparities and so many other issues that produce our social and national angst. Our economic system has produced too many losers and too few winners. Our healthcare system has produced too many bankruptcies and leaves too ...

Politics has never been a game of morality, goodness, honesty, and the wholesale promotion of the general welfare. It has ever been about power, privilege, and special interests. Pretending otherwise is foolishness. There is a reason Jesus eschewed political power for himself and his disciples. There is a reason the Hebrew Scriptures did not envision a monarchy as God's design for the national welfare. There is a reason Jesus never left a political structure in place for God's Reign on earth. Power corrupts, for human beings are corruptible. When we place people in power who desire power, corruption tends to be exacerbated. The greater the power, the greater the pull towards corruption, and the further we get from the promotion of the general welfare, especially for those on society's margins. The Hebrew prophets called those in power to account for how the poor, widows, orphans, immigrants, sick, and injured fared under their reign. The gospel is never abo...

I’ve heard Nathan’s parable mentioned many times over the years. It is a beautiful manipulation of David’s emotions, challenging him first to condemn a fictional character so that he might begin to see the error of his own way. Nathan confronts David after his escapades with Bathsheba and orchestrating the murder of Uriah the Hitite. He crafts a story contrasting a poor and a wealthy man, each with sheep. The difference is that the wealthy man had some 300 sheep, while the poor man had but one. The story makes a much greater distinction of the love both men had for their sheep. The wealthy man was not so concerned with any one of his sheep. His concern was with the total number under his control. He did not want to lose any of them, for their total was a measure of his wealth. The poor man had but one sheep, and this sheep was all that belonged to him. The sheep slept in his own bed. The sheep ate from his own bowl. His relationship with that one sheep was far greater than the ...