Church - Politics - always has been

It was supposed to be a big deal. President Trump signed another (he has signed so many) executive order that would allow religious groups to be much more politically active.  It will be possible for Pastors and Churches to receive contributions and to make political endorsements of candidates and issues.

But what is the big deal?  The evangelical right, fundamentalists group have been doing that kind of thing, passing out voter guides for more than twenty years. The liberal, hippie group used to do that back with the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights and Nixon.  Both sides used to try to get the IRS to take away the tax exempt status of the other for engaging in political activities.  I guess that will be the only difference.

But the rest of us moderate, middle of the road Christians have to confess that we have also been political active in a much more revolutionary way. It may not appear that we have been very good at it, but we have been promoting an entirely different kingdom. We have been fermenting a completely different society. We have been pushing for a different kind of government.  We have been asserting that the powers of this world are illegitimate and corrupt.  The values and the standards of this current culture are destructive and transitory: wealth, power, fame, military might are fleeting.

The kingdom of God is permanent and eternal. The life style and the blessings in the other political reality are based on a sacrificial power of love. That the people who live in this other world live by grace, hope and love. There is a refusal to accept as absolute any of the laws and requirement of the worldly powers because we know there is a kingdom where there are higher, better, more justice, more accepting, more compassionate standards.   The church declares, when it is being true to its Lord, that refusing to pay hard workers a living wage for their work is a violation of the law of God's kingdom.  The church is political when it declares that there is no reason why any on this earth should be hungry when we have food enough.  The church is being very political when it says that the profit motive is not nearly as eternal as the stewardship of the water, air, and land that we all live on.

The Church, when it is living and loving as the body of Christ, is a dangerous revolutionary force.  It has been the incubator for political change down through the ages.  Even when the church has been tempted to act like a political empire, the power of the message of the Cross has spurred reformation and change.   The only hope this country has is the possibility that that part of the Christian community will stand up and be the Church.