Preaching Politics

When I was in college and there was all the attention to Civil Rights and Anti-War, the stories were constantly coming about preachers who got fired from their pulpits because they preached "politics." That meant they were preaching for the end of segregation and against the war. Nobody ever got fired that I heard of preaching for segregation and for the war. So now there are Churches preaching for the Tea Party, urging the election of Republicans, protesting the passage of Health Care Reform and nobody is being pushed out of their pulpit. But where preachers are raising concern about the gap between rich and poor, where preachers are defending the right of labor to organize and bargain, where preachers are asking questions about immigration and the need for reform, where preachers are talking about religious tolerance and allowing mosques, you hear all kinds of complaints about preachers messing in politics. It is rather obvious that it is not that one preaches politics that is the problem. It is the politics one preaches that is not welcomed. It is the politics that runs counter the politics of the people in the pews that gets one kicked out. It is the politics of the gospel of Christ that will not be listened to patiently. The Christ who urges us to love our enemies, pray for those who attack up, care for the poor, heal the blind, care for the sick, give hearing to the deaf, help the lame to walk, provide decent medical care for the broken soldiers who come back from unnecessary wars. It is the preaching that expects what is said on Sunday to affect what is done on Monday. That the scripture read on Sunday morning will be lived during the week. There is not a single verse in Scripture that say "God bless the USA." But there is a line that says "God so loved the world." Whenever the preaching of politics tries to preach an inclusive vision that conforms to that love, that preaching will be resisted and refused. It is not preaching politics that will get you fired, in fact preaching the right kind of politics: Americanism, Free Enterprise (whatever that is since we have never seen it); and Individualism, will gather you a great congregation. Whenever you hear somebody say they do not want the preacher to preach politics, you may know that you are hearing that the preacher is preaching what the speaker does not want to hear.