Sermon 2/26/17
Jeremiah
29:1-14
Us
and Them: Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
Today
we’re diving in to a somewhat controversial question. Should Christians –
should churches – should pastors – should we be involved in politics? When we
think about “politics,” many of us jump right to relentless election cycles and
negative campaigns and name-calling and corruption, and a gut response is:
Let’s get as far away from that as possible! Of course we shouldn’t get mixed
up in politics! I think, though, for us to answer our question – should we be
involved in politics? – we have to start by understanding what politics is, or at least what it is meant to be. The
word “politics” has many connotations today, but its origin is more simple and
straightforward. It comes from the Greek root word polis, which means “city.” Politics
simply meant “the affairs of the city.” In other words, politics meant, means things that are related to the
concerns of the places where people live.
Our scripture passage
today comes from a time when the Israelites were living in exile in Babylon.
Israel had gone through a long period of being conquered by foreign nations and
being occupied by foreign rule, and eventually, even sent out from their
homeland to live in other nations. Not all of Jerusalem was sent to live in
exile, but the leaders – the royal family, and many of the priests and the
prophets, even the artisans – all the people responsible for essentially
“running the nation” – they were all exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah, a prophet,
wasn’t in Israel either. He was living and writing from Egypt. He too was far
from home, and had deep insight into what his people were going through.
Jeremiah
writes a letter to the exiled leaders in Babylon. He says that God has this
message for them, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what
they produce. [Get married] and have [children]. Watch your children get
married and have children. Continue to grow your family, your people. Multiply
there, and don’t decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent
you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will
find your welfare.” I can only imagine that the people found Jeremiah’s words
shocking: Seek the welfare of Babylon? Seek the welfare of the nation that had
essentially captured and imprisoned them far from home? But Jeremiah urges the
people to live, really live, really thrive, even in Babylon, and to care for
even what happens to Babylon.
“Seek
the welfare of the city.” In the Hebrew text, the word we read as “welfare” is
the word “shalom.” If this word is familiar to you, you might know it is often
translated as “peace.” But unfortunately, we sometimes use the word “peace” as
a throwaway. It loses some of its power. Doug Priest writes, “The meaning of
shalom goes farther. It means wholeness and health. Shalom refers to the
internal peace we have in our soul, spirit, and body. But shalom is even more
than that. It applies to our relationships at work and to our relationship with
nature and creation. As one author wrote, ‘To have shalom is to be whole and
healthy in yourself and in all that challenges you, be it people, be it the
issues of your world, your environment, your society, or be it the problems
which are at hand, the problems which await you.’” (1)
God
tells them that after seventy years’ time, Israel will be able to return home.
Of course, some of the people Jeremiah is writing to won’t even live to see
that day. But their children and grandchildren will. God urges them to think
about the future, about the world they want their descendants to have. God
says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you … plans for your welfare and
not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” When the people call on God, pray
to God, God will hear. When they search for God, they will find God, if they
seek with their whole hearts. “I will let you find me.” God says. And I will
gather you back together, and restore you, and bring you back home. If they
seek the shalom of the city – even in Babylon – they will find God, find that
future and hope God promises.
In
the broadest, purest sense, to be political
is to be deeply concerned with the affairs of the places where people live.
And I find in Jeremiah’s writing, in God’s words, a call to be deeply invested
in working for shalom – the wholeness and health and thriving of the places
where people live. God calls us to be invested in building up not just our own
lives, but the whole community, building for the generations to come. God
promises us a future, with hope – when we make sure it is God’s vision for
shalom that we’re pursuing. I think pursuing God’s future for the world is political. We’re choosing and
advocating for God’s principles to guide and shape our world over many sets of
alternative principles!
I
think our role as people of faith is to work on God’s behalf for true shalom. Our
United Methodist heritage includes a long history people working for change in
their world and their communities, grounded in and driven by their faith. Today, our United Methodist Book of Discipline – our book of rules
that shape our order and structure – includes Social Principles, our statement
of belief on almost any social issue you can think of, from military service to
the death penalty to climate change to gun control. That doesn’t mean that all
United Methodists think the same things. The point is: we have a historic
commitment to letting our faith guide our action in the world. In the
introduction and preamble to our Social Principles, we read:
“[We
believe] God's love for the world is an active and engaged love, a love seeking
justice and liberty. We cannot just be observers. So we care enough about
people's lives to risk interpreting God's love, to take a stand, to call each
of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex. The church helps
us think and act out a faith perspective … We know ourselves to be responsible
to God for social and political life.” (2)
We don’t just have to think about these questions of
faith and politics in the abstract. We happen to have several local politicians
who are active in our community of faith. They were willing to let me ask them
some questions, and either via email or in person, shared their responses with
me. I was able to speak with Ron McDougall, our mayor, Charles Newvine, deputy
mayor, and Travis Dann, town justice. Dede Scozzafava, who has a long history
in state politics, has been down south, or we would have had her input as well.
I’m so thankful to all of them for being willing to answer my questions. Here’s
a bit of what I learned.
I asked each of them how they got involved in politics.
Travis wrote, “I grew up in a
family of service. My earliest memories
are of my Dad as a volunteer fireman and fire chief … I never realized how
ingrained in me that service had become until long after I had become a
Trooper. Service to others was simply
what everyone around me did.” Charles, too, has roots in his family that led
him to public service. He said, “I became
involved in politics 8 years ago. I started going to Village board meetings … just
to listen and learn what was going on in my community ... Working with the
public at Newvine's Auto Parts allows me to have "my thumb on the
pulse" of my constituents. Which … allows me to hear both sides of the story
and it also allows me the opportunity to see opposite ends of the public.
People that are very well off and have lavish things as well as others who
can't afford necessary parts to keep their vehicle safe and severely struggle
to get by … I wanted to represent all people. People from all walks of life. I
wanted to get involved because I care about the future of my children and the
future of everyone's children in Gouverneur.” As I sat and talked with Ron, I
learned that he’s been involved in politics for most of his adult life. In the
70s, he was a union leader. A decade later, he was the President of the Labor
Council in Northern New York. He was a delegate for the DNC. Once he was
retired, certain folks, including his wife, encouraged him to get involved in
local politics. He became a village trustee, then deputy mayor, then mayor. His
early experience as a union leader really shaped and prepared him for the
positions he would later hold.
I
asked: Should Christians be involved in politics? Ron
thought about the time of Jesus – how even the story of Jesus’ birth has
political overtones. In Luke’s gospel, we read that Jesus ends up born in
Bethlehem because of the registration and tax program of the Roman Empire.
Jesus was a champion of those on the fringes of society, and Ron sees a
parallel in the way politics can work to seek fairness for all people.
Travis asks, “If Christians are NOT involved in politics, who will fill those
roles?” He writes, “Christians have been made out to be outside of popular, mainstream
culture while our love of Jesus is labelled as outdated … We must stand up and
be proud to be Christians, not be pushed into oblivion!” Charles writes, “All people should be involved in politics. To me that
is the essence of what makes the world great. The opportunity to make life
better for everyone ... I want all people to get involved … I wish people would
see that the reason to be involved in politics is make the community a better
place.”
I asked
each of them how their faith shapes their work and supports what they do, even
as we acknowledge our understanding of the separation of church and state. Ron spoke about how his prayer life undergirds his
work in the community, and he spoke about the active roles in their faith
communities that many of our local politicians have. He talked about our
origins of faith as a nation, and how people came to this land seeking the
freedom to practice their faith as they desired. We often forget that, he said.
Travis shared,“I returned to my faith well after I had accepted my life
of service. As I have grown in my faith,
it has helped me grow in my service and they feed each other.” He cited James’
words about faith being shown in our good works as “particularly poignant” for
him. “They really do go together!” he said. “I have been a better Trooper and
Legislator as my faith grew and my faith grew as I became better at my jobs.”
Charles admitted that this is a “hard question. The foundations of my faith
came from my parents. I strive to be like them … I am most recently questioning
my faith and how I can faithfully, undoubtedly make Jesus Christ a part of
everything I do. It is a hard concept for me to grasp … I struggle with my
faith even more than I struggle with politics and believe me, politics are a
struggle … Am I washing [peoples’] feet? Is my
heart as true to theirs as theirs is to mine? Am I asking for their hand? Am I
showing compassion as Jesus did while not expecting anything in return? My work
in politics is a way to reach people on a different level in hopes to fulfill
my quest in faith. It fills my heart to see people come to me for advice. It
makes me proud to think that people trust me enough to allow me the opportunity
to speak on their behalf.” Charles gets bonus points for quoting my sermons,
but I also appreciate his reflections on the struggle that we all have to daily
live out the principles of our faith.
I asked Ron, Travis and Charles about the current
divisions in our nation, and asked them to share examples of working across
“dividing lines” in local politics. Fortunately, they affirmed my impression
that in our local community, long-lasting personal relationships are more
important than political affiliations. Ron talked about recommending a Republican to fill a certain
vacant position, even though he is a Democrat. Some of his colleagues were
surprised, and said, “Are you sure?” But Ron said: I know him. I know that
he’ll do the job to the best of his ability. I know that he’s the most
qualified.” Charles wrote, “The common ground we find in our small community is
for the greater good. It is amazing to see. The new community center, Riverview
Park, Gouverneur Hospital, infrastructure upgrades and the Chamber of Commerce
are all great examples of people working together across party lines to make
this community even better than it already is.” Travis
shared, “In local politics, everyone knows everyone personally. It is far easier to "bash" someone
you don't know in a personal way than to do the same to someone you sit across
the aisle [from] at church.”
I
asked them about the challenges they see our area facing, and their hope and
vision for our future. All three shared similar challenges with which most of
us could identify. Travis said, “[In] order for our kids to be
"successful" we, most often, must encourage them to go away. We don't have the number of productive CAREERS
here that we used to have … This feeds into the national political divide and
adds to a feeling of hopelessness.
Feelings of hopelessness lead into the drug issues that plague our
community.” Ron talked about the standard of living and the need for more
affordable housing options. Charles identified poverty, unemployment, and
stagnant business growth. But all three also laid out a vision for a future
with hope. Charles wrote that he sets his eyes on a Gouverneur as a place for
his children and the children of the community to have a strong and vibrant
future. “After all,” he said, “I am just borrowing time” from them. Ron says
that he has to have faith when he imagines a future for Gouverneur. You have to
see the glass as half-full, have to see the potential and possibility, he says.
If you can’t see what might be, the potential, he said, politics is the wrong
business for you, and you aren’t practicing your faith! Travis wrote, “Our men's group often agreed that we were on the
edge of a spiritual revival here. I
still believe that is happening!”
God
calls us to seek after the welfare, the shalom, the wholeness of the place
where we live – whether where we are is just where we want to be, or whether
where we are is far from what we’d call home. Either way, God’s people are
meant to seek and to cultivate shalom, a deep peace that comes from
reconciliation and right relationship with God and one another. Maybe that’s
not what we think of when we think of “politics” today. But I can’t think of
anything that more embodies being concerned with the “affairs of the city” than
working together for true shalom. Should Christians be political? I’ll echo
Travis’s words. If not Christians, then who is it that we want to fill these
roles? So let us seek after the welfare, the shalom, of our world, our nation,
and our community right here. For God has plans for us, plans for a future with
hope. And when we seek God with all our hearts, I believe we will find the
shalom we seek. Amen.
(1) Priest, Doug. “Seek the Shalom of the City,” http://newurbanworld.org/seek-the-shalom-of-the-city/. Priest’s quote is unattributed.
(2) Excerpts from the Book of
Discipline 2016 of The United Methodist Church, introduction/preamble to
the Social Principles, and the introduction to the section on The Political
Community.
