Church Voices

I don’t talk politics at church.  But this isn’t church.

I’ll tell you now that I  won’t be voting for Clinton or Obama this election (for various reasons).  There is much I could say that I don’t like about their political decions in the past, and their views on the role of government in our country.  But I don’t really need to do that.  What I do need to do is to be challenged to treat others with respect and to love my enemies.  So I would like to share with you one thing that I appreciate about Clinton and Obama.   (There are probably more, and please feel free to share your own positive observations.  No criticizing or I’ll have to bring the smack down on you.  There are plenty of other places and times to do that.)

I appreciate both of these candidates being willing to discuss issues of faith at an event specifically for that.  They were asked questions of varying kinds by different people, including ministers.  The questions weren’t all fluff either.  Were some of their answers evasions and redirects.  Yes.  But they aren’t Bible scholars, they are politicians and trained in that.  And quite frankly, there are many things about God, faith, and Christianity that I find mysterious and don’t have a tremendous grasp on yet.  And when somebody asks me about them, I give the best answer I can but it might not really be a satisfying answer.

One thing that did come through when Clinton and Obama answered their questions was a desire to live out their faith by helping other people.  In Christian circles, we call this “loving your neighbor as yourself.”  Sounds familiar, where have I seen that before?  It is possible that both politicians are saying what will get them the vote.  But I hope they are genuine and that I’m gracious enough to give them room to fail at it.  Especially when I as a minister, preacher, and christian fail at loving my neighbors quite a lot.

For all of the failings of the Democratic party, there appears to be a genuine desire among Democrats to love their neighbors.  Maybe as Christians (not Republicans or Democrats) we can show our communities what that looks like.  Maybe we can even love them as Christ has loved us.