Weekly Word
I stay away from politics. For 30 years I have served here and people do not know how I vote. Why? Because how I vote is important to me, but it is not important to anyone else. I am not an expert in politics. I am not particularly skilled at picking candidates. I am not smart enough to tell anyone how to vote, and I have no loyalty to any political party. The church should just stick to Jesus, tell the Jesus story, be faithful to his teachings, and encourage people to live, serve and vote as they feel called.
In my preaching and serving, I stay away from politics. My Easter Sunday sermon was perceived by some as being very political. Any encounter with Jesus may be understood as being political, but I had no political agenda when preaching.
So, are the following statements political in and of themselves or are they simply the truth? Remember, too, that according to Jesus, TRUTH only comes from God.
Is it political:
To say that people are more alike than different?
To say that God loves Muslims, Jews, atheists, and Christians equally?
To say that all men and women are created equal?
To say that our nation continues to suffer from the evils of our past: slavery, racism, Civil War, Reconstruction?
To say that the sins of the parents are visited upon the third and fourth generations of those who follow?
To say that we must guard against prejudice and bigotry?
To say that we are to have compassion for the foreigner, the immigrant, the lost and afraid, the poor and hungry?
To say that the care of God’s creation has been entrusted to us?
To say that we are stewards of the air, water, animals, oceans, and land?
Those statements may have political ramifications. You can be the judge of that. Exercise your freedom, your voice, and your vote as God leads you. Personally, all of those statements are based on my understanding of the Bible, my understanding of the teachings of Jesus, my understanding of the Gospel. I don’t believe those things because they were written in our Constitution or in the morning paper. I hold them true because the Bible teaches me that they are true. All TRUTH comes from God.
Thanks for sharing the journey with me.
Pastor Jim
