Your Kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven

We have been traveling around the Central Plains Conference now for about 2 months, and we have about 1 month to go. Shortly put, it has been a really good experience so far of learning and sharing from so many people. As you can imagine, our team has been asking a lot of questions this summer through all of our conversations. One particularly interesting conversation that came up was about faith and politics. We didn’t end the discussion with a final answer, and we were all coming from different perspectives on the issue.

Personally, over the past two years I have been considering this issue more and more, and re-evaluating what I really believe on how faith and politics go together. Through this summer especially, and the message that we are talking about, I have come to believe that true change and true peace is never going to come through any kind of political or government structure, or presidential nominee. Now I confess, I (and the whole seeds team) are following the tightly contested presidential race, and find ourselves glued to the television during the DNC going on right now. Yet, I continually need to remind myself that as Christians, we believe that change and peace in this world comes first and foremost through a God that is reconciling all of creation back to right relationship.

As I look at the life of Jesus, and how he addressed the problems of his time, it is obvious that he didn’t resort to a top-down political power structure to bring change. In John 6:15 when Jews come to make Jesus King, (because he was the King they were looking for to finally bring them freedom from the Romans) Jesus refuses, and goes off by himself. Jesus was not going to be the kind of King, or political leader they were looking for. Rather, Jesus showed an upside-down way (from what society expected of him) to bring change, healing and hope to the world. Jesus became a lamb, a suffering servant on the cross.

I certainly don’t have all my questions answered as to how Christians should relate to politics. I don’t think it’s necessarily a black and white issue. However, I am convinced that if we think Barack Obama or John McCain are going to bring the change that this world needs, then sadly, we got it wrong. True change, true peace, is never going to come through any kind of human intelligence, reason, or organization, through a Democrat, or a Republican president. No, our peace in this world comes through a God of love, justice, and mercy that shows no allegiance to a specific nation state. I hope that as Christians, during this heated and emotional presidential race, we first remember who we are: We are the Church, and we have an exciting ministry right now: “Gods Kingdom, on earth as it is Heaven”

Randy