Christians and Politics
Admittedly, in the land of politics, I fall somewhere on the spectrum between apathy and anger. Anyone that is "high up there" got there because they desired power and believed they could wield it better than others. From this ideology, other beliefs have stemmed out to form a very confused cluster of branches. I am at the point where I think Christians can make an impact at the local government level, but once you start going up the political ladder, you find yourself in compromising environments permeated with corrupted stenches.
With this in mind, I came across an article that made me think about political involvement in a different light. In the Summer 2010 issue of Leadership Journal, Mark Labberton writes about the collosion of evangelism and justice in an article entitled, "A mighty river or a slippery slope?". What caught my attention was the way Mark describe a particular congregation's reaction to the Katrina disaster that swept through New Orleans. Mark asks:
Why would 25 adults in one church use most of their annual vacation to travel to New Orleans and clean houses ruined by Katrina, while another 10 from this same congregation go to Washington, D.C., to lobby their congressional representatives to continue support for Katrina victims five years after the tragedy?
It is the last part that struck me. Here is a group of Christians who are exercising their political rights to better the lives of those around them. There was no religious stigma attached to their actions. It wasn't a "legislation of morality" issue. It was a legal right that gave way to improving the lives of others. I felt like this moment was a beautiful portrayal of how Christians can coexist with politics.
I don't know where this will lead me in the realm of politics, but it has certainly made the road a little easier to take.
With this in mind, I came across an article that made me think about political involvement in a different light. In the Summer 2010 issue of Leadership Journal, Mark Labberton writes about the collosion of evangelism and justice in an article entitled, "A mighty river or a slippery slope?". What caught my attention was the way Mark describe a particular congregation's reaction to the Katrina disaster that swept through New Orleans. Mark asks:
Why would 25 adults in one church use most of their annual vacation to travel to New Orleans and clean houses ruined by Katrina, while another 10 from this same congregation go to Washington, D.C., to lobby their congressional representatives to continue support for Katrina victims five years after the tragedy?
It is the last part that struck me. Here is a group of Christians who are exercising their political rights to better the lives of those around them. There was no religious stigma attached to their actions. It wasn't a "legislation of morality" issue. It was a legal right that gave way to improving the lives of others. I felt like this moment was a beautiful portrayal of how Christians can coexist with politics.
I don't know where this will lead me in the realm of politics, but it has certainly made the road a little easier to take.
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