Several years ago, I was more in touch with contemporary culture. I would blog nearly every week on Thursdays and I used my blog as an opportunity to exegete our culture, much like I use my sermons on Sunday to exegete a passage of the Bible.
But something shifted, and I am not sure if it shifted IN me or in the culture. I have found increasingly that to exegete the culture requires more political commentary than I care to handle. And so my blogging has been more sparse. It seems like so much going on in our culture has been politicized. (Is it just me?)
I am not aftaid to talk politics, I just cannot imagine that many people care to hear one more voice on the subject.
Yet here I am writing on a pertinent cultural issue that I am identifying as a pastor right now in our culture. In our divided culture during a time of a radical administrative shift in our federal government, I am hearing from people who are unreasonably fearful and others who are naively optimistic. And these responses on the part of Christians ought not to be.
The church exists in the world as ‘a colony of heaven in a country of death.’ I got that definition from Eugene Peterson. Whether you are optimistic or pessimistic about the current trajectory of our nation, we know as a church that we live in a country of death. And we serve a Lord who pledges to do away with death in the end. He is the resurrection and the life.
I am not at all suggesting that we ought to be dispassionate about our current circumstances, but I am suggesting that the glory of the promises found in the gospel MUST impact the extent to which we are impacted by our political climate. It is a question for the Christian how fearful? How optimistic? And how much despair? And how much hope? In this season of dramatic political change it is refreshing to see a people NOT adding to the drama.
Paul said he learned how to endure seasons of plenty and seasons of want. Think about that. His faith was able to endure a season of abundant material blessings, and his faith could endure seasons of poverty and need. Fellow Christians, let’s continue to be the church. We are the people of our resurrected and ascended Lord. He who sits on the throne will return to establish His rule and His reign. And it will be much better than Trump’s America, Biden’s America, Trudeau’s Canada, or whatever other broken culture your heart pines for.
Pause. Take a breath. Jesus is still Lord. True hope is found OUTSIDE of our political system. But be warned. True fear is also found outside our political system as well. So, maybe share the Gospel with someone.
