Politics: What could it look like in Sisters?

Politics are a necessary way of organizing our society around the values we hold dear. We all have political decisions to make. But if we lose sight of what our values are, we allow political parties to determine them and often we vote for the lesser of two evils. Politics are to be lived out.

We can make a political difference in our own neighborhoods and towns. Whether our neighbors are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, we are called to organize our values around loving God and loving our neighbor. Jesus did!

No one would deny that Jesus, the Christ, was the most influential person in the history of humanity. Western civilization was changed because of him and those that followed him.

However, who would have thought that his influence would come as a result of being politically murdered?

His was not the philosophy of might-makes-right. His was not the philosophy of Rome. Instead, His was the power of sacrificial love, leading to a death, burial, and resurrection. This would change the world.

He did not join a political party. He created His own. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and called us to organize our life around it. Rome would never be the same again. Neither would we.

We are faced with a similar decision. Will we live by might-makes-right or by sacrificial love? Are we limited by political parties and partisan politics? Will we limit our life decisions to opposing propositions or honor King Jesus? Will we live as citizens of heaven in a broken world embracing the values of King Jesus and the politics of Kingdom of God?

I love America and would not want to live anywhere else. Our freedoms make this country the desired habitat for many. It is the major reason why people want to migrate here. My grandparents did, and I am forever grateful.

However, let’s not confuse the values of this world with the values of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said he would one day usher in this Kingdom and He would rule. Jesus says the values of the kingdom of the world are power, success, recognition, and comfort (Luke 6:24-26). His values are love, acceptance, humility, justice for the poor and marginalized (Luke 6:20-23).

We are called to organize our lives around His values. These are the values that helped to shape our country and western civilization. These were the values of The Greatest Generation. They are not the values of a world that has no need for God in the public sphere. They are not the values of a society that places humans at the center and God on the outskirts. They are not the values of Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism is simply using the world’s values to force its own moral platform under the guise of religion.

We can help to usher in His values now, not leaving it up to somebody in Washington. What would it look like in Sisters?

Ultimately His kingdom will come. He will be the King we long for and there will be peace and human flourishing. Meanwhile we pray:

“Thy Kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven!”