Election Blues

Well, we are two weeks away from a national election.  It is one that I am following closely and care about deeply. But who I support , I am not saying. 

Let me explain why.

The last few months, I've been following my friends on Facebook. Is it my imagination, or are people taking this election more seriously than most?  It may be the nature of social media, but a lot of political stuff gets spread across the web.  As we get close to the election, some people are getting angry--some of them are angry enough to break friendships and relationships.

Most of us get over it after the election, when tempers cool, at least before the next election. But some of us don't.  That is because both sides feed us a line that goes something like this.

1.       Our country is going to hell in a hand basket.

2.       The reason we are going to hell in a hand basket is because of Proposition A, Party B, or Candidate C. 

3.       The only hope for our country is turn it around by voting for Candidate D , Party E, or Proposition F.

.

I reject this premise for religious reasons. 

Firstl,  the world is not going to hell in a hand basket. If it is, then God is not in charge.  Sure the situation may be bad, but it always has been and it always will be as long as Jesus tarries.

Politics has one purpose, to get one group of people out of power and  put another group in  power.  But when we think these times are the worst ever,  we should study history.  How about the Dark Ages, the Black Plague, the Native American Exterminations, the Civil War, the Great Depression,  Hitler,  Stalin, and the Cold War, etc, etc, etc,?  Things have always been worse.  I realize that this does not fit either common political narrative  and some readers will disagree, but remember, two political parties  spending millions on propaganda only agree on this premise.  They are spending vast sums to convince us that this election is more important than the Battle of Armageddon.   We can't accept either side's propaganda at face value, when they have ability to spend  the annual budget of a third world country just to get elected.

Second,  our current trouble is not simply the result of one candidate or a party. As a Christian, the reason for the problem of the world is sin. We know the enemy, and he is us. 

If the problems with the world could be reduced to a candidate or a legal proposition, how do we explain the stubbornness of villainy?  We get rid of one tyrant and replace him with another.  We voted out alcohol, and got organized crime.  We  got rid of slavery and replaced it with Jim Crow.  We got rid of the Great Communist conspiracy and got Al Quaeda.  The real problem with our world is our mad individual impulse to sacrifice anything for personal status, sexual gratification,  and momentary safety.  Humanity is dying from the slow poison of selfishness; no one seems to be immune. 

Third,  the real secret of happiness is personal, not corporate.  Whether Republicans or Democrats win in two weeks,  the  world will not turn to God.  If we as individuals turn to God,   person turns to God, even though we may vote for the wrong party, we can be considerably happier  and personally better  Political decisions are important but spiritual renewal is much more important.

I won't be endorsing any candidate--not because I don't have a preference, but because  I do not wish to put a barrier between me and somebody I love, or may hope one day to love.   No person, party, or proposition Is going to magically contain the real problem with the world.  To think that either side will fix what is wrong with our country is to practice political idolatry.   Salvation does not come from the ballot box. But from God.

The only thing that Satan fears in an election year is that people will forget their political divisions.  It is human and healthy to have differences of opinions, but in the end, we need to keep our values straight.  We should love our country, party, race, football team or whatever, but God must come first.  All other loves should be under that love.   Anything that gets us off track, away from personal love of others and love for God,  is just fine with the devil.

I don't say you shouldn't make political statements.  Go ahead, if you wish.  But please remember that political statements put out on the internet are like artillery barrages..  We  send our insults out, but we do not see the damage they do when they hit their mark.  

Neither do I mean that one view is as good as another.  I have my own political views and I plan to express them by voting.  But as a pastor,  I 'm not interested in making the world a little better, but in seeing it transformed by the grace of Christ.

If you feel differently, fine. Just remember that your political enemies are also God's friends, and we have an obligation to treat them with respect and honor. 

All Dogs Go to (Lutheran) Heaven

My friend, Pastor Rick the Lutheran,  staged an event at a Providence animal hospital today--a "blessing of the animals." Joy and I thought it might be fun to see how to bless animals, so we took our pet--Tasha, the Codependent Dog,  down to get blessed.

First let me put out some disclaimers for my Presbyterian brethren. 

• No, I'm not becoming a Lutheran.   
• No, I do not think that blessing an animal somehow makes them a Christian animal since we know that no animal cannot properly be called "Christian" without a thorough knowledge of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
• No I am not encouraging blessing animals as a regular part of worship in a sanctuary. 

We really just wanted to see my friends from the Lutheran church.  Plus,  if you know Tasha the Codependent Dog,  it was worth a try to help improve her behavior. 

We put Tasha in the convertible with the top down.  She rode in the back seat, nose in the wind, happy as I've ever seen her.  We arrived a little late for the ceremony. Pastor Rick was already in full homiletical bloom,  quoting Genesis 1:26-28 and telling how we have dominion of the earth in order to care for God's lesser creatures.  I agree,  though I am little disturbed to think that the same verses, when applied to pigs, cows, and chickens have a somewhat different nuance. 

At any rate, it was a good service.  He prayed that God would bless the families there and their furry companions.  Then we all recited the Lord's Prayer.  I could not help but think while praying it what "deliver us from temptation" might mean to a dog, if they could understand it.  Somehow I hoped it might cause Tasha not to jump on other dogs in the crowd. No such luck .  Tasha, whatever her inner condition, remained unsanctified in  her  behavior.

 Then Vicar Josh,  Rick's assistant passed through the group blessing the dogs one by one.  Apparently, Vicar Josh was fluent in dog, because he knew just what to do.  He rolled them over and scratched their tummies! While this probably would not work on human  parishioners, it seemed to work wonders on the dogs,   since they thumped their feet and lolled around with their tongues out of their mouths.  I have never seen such bliss in a human congregation at the administration of the benediction.  If they ever did, it would be--well, frightening.

Afterwards,  I hung around for a while to speak with Pastor Rick,  while Joy walked Tasha the Codependent Dog around the hospital yard.  I cannot say whether Tasha enjoyed it , or whether she converted to Lutheranism, but I will say this,  she did her best to spread the blessing around, by sprinkling the yard. 

To Be A Pastor

I've been reading Eugene Peterson,  which makes me wonder how I got so old without reading Peterson's books before.  His writing is wise, spiritual, literate, and very, very human. Pastors are the subject of most of his work, and he draws from a wealth of experience after decades in the pastorate. I highly recommend him

One thing that struck me this morning as I read one of his books was his description of his boyhood in Montana. He describes the people he met there in his town as being eccentric, delightful and real characters--with few exceptions.  One exception, he confesses, were the ministers he knew.  For the most part, they were phonies, mostly interested in hunting and fishing, who could not wait to get away from their  churches to hit the woods and streams.  It wasn't that they were bad men, just not spiritual men.  They wanted what everyone else did--comfortable,  uncomplicated careers followed by long, smooth retirements.  It never occurred to them that their true calling might be at odds with their comfort. 

I know those men.  In fact, I've been one of them.  That's the problem with those of us who claim to stand in for God--our words may be lofty, but our true thoughts go no higher than our stomachs and no wider than our investments.  It never occurs to us that we are supposed  sacrifice our lives for the sheep.   We keep thinking we are supposed to be rewarded for every little favor we give them.  We live as if our calling to word and sacrament were a commodity to be sold rather than a sacrificial gift. 

The spiritual world is far from us.  We get all tied up in problems and pleasures. The spiritual world is not our reality--it is a ghost which we sometimes glance out of the corner of our eye.  

We seek God, but we do not desire Him. We seek him the way a drunken beggar seeking a rich traveler on the street, to give us what we desire sow we can spend it upon our own version of happiness.  We pursue God for the sake of something else.

Lately, I feel as if I've returned to my pursuit of God.  My heart has not been empty, as the saints say, nor have I heard him as the Hound of Heaven, following my footsteps. He may have very well that He has been following, but I have not heard him.  My television, radio,  and cell phone drown out the footsteps of the Almighty in pursuit.  My heart has not been empty, either, since it has been too crowded with trivialities to notice.   I have been like those preachers Peterson knew in his boyhood--stately,  eloquent, and shallow. 

So I have returned to my pursuit of God, to see His face and know His ways. My pursuit is different than I was in my youth. I pursued Him then, thinking I was going to change the world or save the globe.  I imagined myself, as the disciples often did,  on some lofty throne,  doing great things for God's kingdom.   Now I seek Him  for the sheer beauty of it.  I'm not going to win the world for Jesus, but that doesn't matter.  Now, I pursue Him so I can see the world with Jesus.  The more I see him, the more I admire His handiwork,  both in nature and in His children. 

Being a pastor is I want to do, purely for the love of Him, and His sheep.  To be a pastor is to stand on the edge of wonder.  It is a privilege God has given to a few to walk towards Him with crooked staff in hand through green pastures , still waters, and valleys full of danger,  leading his sheep to Him, with them  sometimes bleating and complaining.  but with them all the way, then one by one, I follow him, close enough to see their eyes shine as they catch a glimpse of Glory.