Post-election stewing
Finally, it’s over. I was looking forward to this day — the day after the election, when presumably we would know who won (I have to admit that the Bush-Gore election in 2000 dashed some of my hopes of a clearcut answer in future elections), I could quit comfort-eating and mutilating my cuticles, and we would all go back to being our normal, undivided, happy selves. I was looking forward to knowing who won and who lost, and I’d decided I could live with either one being the president-elect. I could quit disagreeing internally with my dear friends and family on the other side.
But it didn’t just end at 10:00, when the major news stations declared Obama the winner. There are lots of people happy because he won, including me. (There, I said it. Please don’t hate me if you disagree.) But, as I knew all too well already, and as my four-year-old daughter explained to me at lunch, “Some people who wanted McCain to win are sad because he didn’t.” I know. I’m having sympathetic sad feelings with the sad people today, even though I stand by my decision. I wish our feelings were clearcut. I wish there were only one issue to decide about, or that we could all agree on everything. However, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen this side of heaven.
I did appreciate a diehard Republican friend’s request that we all pray for president-elect Obama, whether we voted for him or not. We all know he has inherited quite the mess. He needs all the prayers he can get.
One reason I’m proud of America
“There’s no denying that Obama is a sort of pinup boy for the immigrant dream all over the world.” — Danny Sriskandarajah, Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain
I can get kind of anti-patriotic sometimes. I won’t go into that (today). But here is one reason I am proud of my country. Today msnbc.com had this article, “Europe has a long wait for its own Obama”: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27491837/. As one person quoted in the article says, “Obama didn’t happen overnight.” Whether you’re voting for Obama or not, you have to admit that many other Western, progressive nations are far from the ideal of equal opportunity for all minorities. The United States has its own set of grievous problems when it comes to immigrants and treating people equally. But I think it shows a lot of progress that we have the son of an immigrant running for president. That dream is still alive. I hope it will someday be more than a dream for the people of Turkish descent in Germany, those of African descent in France, and the other minorities across Europe.
It’s a good thing for me that this American dream has come true. I’m the child of an immigrant, too. My mom can’t ever run for president. But maybe someday I can. đ
Religion and politics
Letâs just get two of the biggest taboos out into the open today: religion and politics. I imagine, over the course of this blog, I will write about a lot of taboo subjects. In general, I am not afraid of taboo subjects, but I am afraid that Iâll lose peopleâs approval if I say what I really think. But as I mentioned in yesterdayâs post, Iâm going to try to be honest here â uh, without unnecessarily being inflammatory.
Kudos to Todd, our pastor, for an excellent talk today on âbiblical suggestions for political involvement.â With this election affecting me more viscerally than anything else political Iâve observed, I was really hoping for some good, biblical direction, and I think we got it today. I can only imagine Toddâs anxiety as he prepared to say a bunch of things that could easily have annoyed a lot of people. (And who knows, maybe they did.) It wasnât a comfortable talk to listen to, thatâs for sure, but since when has Jesus made people comfortable?
Todd explained three common views of Christian engagement in politics: 1) focusing our efforts primarily on political change, that is, seeing the primary role of the church as building the kingdom of God on earth via politics; 2) withdrawing from political involvement at all, emphasizing solely evangelism and personal discipleship; and 3) focusing primarily on Jesusâ instruction to go out and get other people to follow Jesus, but wisely and strategically getting involved in the political process. I bet you can figure out which option Todd was advocating. Yep, youâre right! The last one!
He explained a few guidelines for our perspective on politics:
- Reject the temptation to create a utopia. . . for the sake of the gospel (John 16:33)
- Recognize that we live in a âmixed fieldâ (the grain among the weeds). . . for the sake of the gospel (Matt. 13); we need to live redemptively among people whose lives and goals are different from ours
- Move beyond an us vs. them mentality. . . for the sake of the gospel (Mark 10:42-45)
- Preserve spiritual unity with other believers by respecting diversity of political opinions. . . for the sake of the gospel
The crux of the matter is that we must stay united on one thing: the message of Jesus. I believe he is God, and I believe in the end, all our political striving, if it isnât motivated by God, will crumble. Meanwhile, we have an obligation to choose Godâs values on earth. We have an obligation to love each other, whether we agree with each other or not; this is how we distinguish ourselves from those who donât know Jesus. Maybe itâs just because I havenât paid attention until this election, but this time there has been so much hateful invective spewed from the keyboards and lips of people in both major parties. I can imagine how grieved God is by our hatred of each other.
Todd left us with some questions for us to ponder:
- Where is my hope?
- Am I going into Tuesday with fear or faith?
- Most of all, is this fear or faith stoking my desire to go into the world with the gospel?
As for me, even though my political decisions have met with a lot of disagreement, with full integrity I can say that they have been forged in the fire of the gospel. After all my personal agonizing of this election season, I am more aflame with the possibility of reaching the world with the good news than I have been before. God knows the outcome of Tuesdayâs election. No matter which candidate gets the most electoral votes, God will become more famous and look better during this presidential term.
Am I going to go with whatever flow around me and vote for the one everyone else thinks I should? Am I going to resign myself to everyone elseâs decision without letting my voice be heard? No, on both counts. I wholeheartedly want my chosen candidate to win. But you know what? If he doesnât, Iâll be OK â eventually 
. (And if you donât know who Iâm voting for, feel free to ask. Iâll tell you.) There are true believers on the other guyâs side. My ultimate leader is Jesus, and itâs going to be OK in the end.
(And here I was thinking that the advent of this blog was timed so propitiously. I was going to avoid writing about both Halloween and the election. It would have been so easy. I think I might still manage to avoid writing about Halloween. But I just had to respond to todayâs message.)
intensely trivial 