No Church is Immune from… Churches are immune from lots of challenges but no church is immune from politics-based divisions. Covid-19 made this more than abundantly clear. Masks. Just mention the word to most pastors and you will hear tales. Yes, the church has succumbed to an emerging reality in America’s churches: mega-identities. Churches today more and more are aligning with a political party since people prefer to worship with persons with the same political stance. Politics divides church, especially when it comes to race and ethnicity.
We have become drunk with the false impression of the power politics offers. It is as if we can force into reality some distorted picture of our take of heaven on earth. Even God does not do that. He gives us time and space to respond and develop from the heart. The containment of behaviors is not the final goal. It is the heart that is so changed by the love and grace of God that it just could not pursue fleshly goals.
We are not Republican or Democrat. We are to be people of the kingdom of God. A community defined by it's sacrificial love offered in humility to another with their highest good in mind. Our kingdom is not won by political battle, it has been won already by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have grossly misunderstood this and taken this for permission to use self-righteous ideals to make the world conform to us.
Our loves are out of order. We have forgotten who we are and Whose we are.
Mar 14, 2023·edited Mar 14, 2023Liked by Scot McKnight
This is excellent. The recent TGC article and issues raised as well as the confusion created with these mega identities brought Ps 50:21 to mind.
Pslm 50:21- “These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I (Lit. " the I AM") was one like yourself.....”. Our idea of God and what His will is matters.
AWTozer says what I’m trying to say about true worship but so much better....
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.
For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."
Perhaps its simplistic, but I don’t think our problem in the church is politics. I contribute it to moral confusion. Too many people have too much difficulty discerning good from evil. Moral clarity should unite us. Our politics should then follow our moral clarity. Too many people try to insert their political preferences into their moral framework. That’s backwards and results in confusion.
Charles Sheldon has always been a great ally when I have dealt with “church politics” in churches, and any other type of “politics” in churches. When asking “What would Jesus do?”, steadfastly “letting” Jesus do the talking, and by being proactive - we CAN discover “a table in the presence of ... enemies”, which can bring mutual respect under the tent. In the ten UMC congregations we have been members(1) or the pastoral family(9) there has always been “politics”, and I have relied on the aforementioned tactics to keep moving forward, and find “safe tables.”
Can we please turn politics back into a mini identity? The banter between American Democrats and Republicans used to be less intense than the debate in the Carolinas about barbeque. (Though people are pretty passionate about whether eastern, western or South Carolina mustard style is the best.)
It's absolutely emotionally driven and there is a palpable note of disgust when one mega-identity speaks about the other and that scares me... I just feel bad for all of the helping professions. I can definitely feel it in corporate America but I am sure it's worse for pastors. I think friendly sparring on any topic with a palpable note of love, appreciation and charity is vital for authentic community. I wonder if we'll ever get back there?
I hope you are doing well. I didn't realize until a few days ago that you had this space. Glad to see it.
I've been working the 12 steps as Christian discipleship. My sponsor, great guy by the name of Mitch, is working them again with me. We've been meeting for months now as we go through it, and this post reminded me that, even after sharing our respective inventories with each other and hours and hours of time, I have no idea how Mitch votes.
I do think there is something more than a coincidence there. I've found that there is more than I can handle just being somewhat thorough in an attempt to take up Jesus' way of life, and giving such the priority it deserves precisely because the stakes are actually so high (as opposed to the political stakes, which are so often overblown).
In any event, good to see you in this venue! God bless you and yours.
We have become drunk with the false impression of the power politics offers. It is as if we can force into reality some distorted picture of our take of heaven on earth. Even God does not do that. He gives us time and space to respond and develop from the heart. The containment of behaviors is not the final goal. It is the heart that is so changed by the love and grace of God that it just could not pursue fleshly goals.
We are not Republican or Democrat. We are to be people of the kingdom of God. A community defined by it's sacrificial love offered in humility to another with their highest good in mind. Our kingdom is not won by political battle, it has been won already by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have grossly misunderstood this and taken this for permission to use self-righteous ideals to make the world conform to us.
Our loves are out of order. We have forgotten who we are and Whose we are.
I don't think I could convey how very much I resonate with your writing on this. I resonate.
This is excellent. The recent TGC article and issues raised as well as the confusion created with these mega identities brought Ps 50:21 to mind.
Pslm 50:21- “These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I (Lit. " the I AM") was one like yourself.....”. Our idea of God and what His will is matters.
AWTozer says what I’m trying to say about true worship but so much better....
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.
For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."
Perhaps its simplistic, but I don’t think our problem in the church is politics. I contribute it to moral confusion. Too many people have too much difficulty discerning good from evil. Moral clarity should unite us. Our politics should then follow our moral clarity. Too many people try to insert their political preferences into their moral framework. That’s backwards and results in confusion.
Charles Sheldon has always been a great ally when I have dealt with “church politics” in churches, and any other type of “politics” in churches. When asking “What would Jesus do?”, steadfastly “letting” Jesus do the talking, and by being proactive - we CAN discover “a table in the presence of ... enemies”, which can bring mutual respect under the tent. In the ten UMC congregations we have been members(1) or the pastoral family(9) there has always been “politics”, and I have relied on the aforementioned tactics to keep moving forward, and find “safe tables.”
Can we please turn politics back into a mini identity? The banter between American Democrats and Republicans used to be less intense than the debate in the Carolinas about barbeque. (Though people are pretty passionate about whether eastern, western or South Carolina mustard style is the best.)
It's absolutely emotionally driven and there is a palpable note of disgust when one mega-identity speaks about the other and that scares me... I just feel bad for all of the helping professions. I can definitely feel it in corporate America but I am sure it's worse for pastors. I think friendly sparring on any topic with a palpable note of love, appreciation and charity is vital for authentic community. I wonder if we'll ever get back there?
Scot,
I hope you are doing well. I didn't realize until a few days ago that you had this space. Glad to see it.
I've been working the 12 steps as Christian discipleship. My sponsor, great guy by the name of Mitch, is working them again with me. We've been meeting for months now as we go through it, and this post reminded me that, even after sharing our respective inventories with each other and hours and hours of time, I have no idea how Mitch votes.
I do think there is something more than a coincidence there. I've found that there is more than I can handle just being somewhat thorough in an attempt to take up Jesus' way of life, and giving such the priority it deserves precisely because the stakes are actually so high (as opposed to the political stakes, which are so often overblown).
In any event, good to see you in this venue! God bless you and yours.
Yes!!!