When I was fresh out of seminary, the year was 1980, an election year. I was a newly ordained Episcopal Deacon, serving in a parish with a priest who told me on the first day, “I do not pray.” That same summer I began to get mailings from something called the “Moral Majority.” Those of you who are younger than I will not remember a time when American politics were less polarized – but 1980 is the pivotal year, when, primarily driven by the politics of the abortion debate, politics took on the character of a culture war.
I kept getting inundated with mail. The newly minted “Rev.” on the front of my name put me on mailing lists for groups I’d never heard of. I have to confess that at the time abortion was not a large issue in my voting conscience, nor if you listen to the debates of politicians, was it very large for them either.
In the years since then, much water has gone under the bridge. The polarizations on abortion have grown wider, though, frequently voting one way or another has made little difference other than the makeup of the supreme court (and not much there – Reagan nominated some of the more liberal members of today’s court).
But politics came rushing into religion (or was it the other way around) with a bang. Frequently this has served to sharpen issues (as did the debates surrounding abolition in the 19th century) but has also served to politicize Christianity.
In the years since 1980, I have served in parishes that included one Democrat Governor of South Carolina (later Secretary of Education under Clinton), one Republican Governor of South Carolina (earlier a member of the House of Representatives and now a victim of Alzheimers), their surrounding families and a host of local politicians.
I do not preach politics – I try to preach the gospel. And though the gospel will sometimes have political ramifications, often those ramifications are for the short run, mostly seeking any base of support that will put them over the top.
I believe that the existence of the Church is profoundly political (I did study under Stanley Hauerwas, afterall), but not political in a way that any party should want to endorse. I believe that the Kingdom of God is real and should have such real consequences in our lives that Caesars (under whatever form of government) should tremble before the King of Kings and the Kingdom that is not of this world.
Shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union, on one of the days in which the Politburo stood atop Lenin’s Tomb to watch the parade of Soviet military might pass by, a priest came bursting through the crowd with a handcross in his hand. He shouted, “Michail Sergeivich! Christos Voskrese!” And he was not shot or hampered in any way. It was the signal of a change in that regeme.
There are still plenty of politics in America’s religion, and plenty of religion in America’s politics. There is far too little proclamation to George W. and anyone else in power, “Christ is risen!” Or a recognition by our culture of the significance of the statement.
But Christ is risen, the significance does not depend on anyone’s recognition. Christ is risen and everything else has passed into shadow beneath the power of the Cross. There is a Quaker song that I enjoy that may have more to say to the politics of being a Christian than many things I have heard:
My life goes on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear it’s music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?
While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness ’round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble in their fear
And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging,
When friends by shame are undefiled
How can I keep from singing?
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