I Am Biased and I Hope You Are As Well!
As you might expect I received feedback from my article in last week’s news and notes. Candidly, most of it, by far, was favorable and appreciative but some was not. As a result, I want to be very clear about my role is your pastor and the realm of politics.
First, let me say what I wrote last week I would have written if the president had been a Democrat or Independent. The fact that our current president happens to be Republican has nothing to do with either what or why I wrote what I wrote. The real issue has nothing to do with political persuasion, but rather a failure of moral character. This judgment it's based upon what I see our President doing, what I hear him saying and what I read, from a variety of sources.
Second, please never think I am a neutral observer. I am most certainly not. I am biased and I always will be, but perhaps not in the way you might initially think. My bias is the foundation of our faith that is found especially but far from exclusively, in the four gospels (Some examples include the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7; Jesus first sermon in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 4:16 and following; Matthew 25; the Great Commandment, Mark 12:28-32; the I Am sayings in John’s gospel, the “one another” passages in Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 and numerous other examples in both the New and Old Testaments.) Simply put my bias of faith growing out of the Biblical witness of both the Old and New Testaments is God’s claim upon us includes every aspect of our lives, not just the “religious or spiritual ones”.
We are called to be Christian Americans – people who seek to have their walk with Christ shape their values, mores and attitudes determine how they live in our culture. Over and over again they ask themselves the question, what would Jesus Christ have me say or do rather than what do I want to say or do. I can say with heart-felt sincerity this is the commitment of my life. And I can say with utter candor there are plenty of times I fall far short. But no matter how big the gulf may be at a given time, it is always my commitment.
As your pastor, I have neither the right nor the responsibility to tell you how to vote. That is up to you. It is my responsibility as your pastor and as a leader to speak out, when I see, again and again, words and deeds that contradict or repudiate what the very foundational values and principles of our walk with Christ, as His disciples, in this blessed gift we call life. Perhaps even more significantly it is our (yours and mine) responsibility to treat one another with grace and respect regardless of who or what we vote for. We do not need to agree on any particular issue. The command to love one another is not limited to those who look, think, and act like we do. We must treat one another as the precious children of God that we are. Or to put the matter in slightly different terms, Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem all of us - republican, democrat, independent, liberal, conservative, white, black, man, woman, young, old – all of us, no ifs, ands or buts. I am convinced loving one another as our faith calls for means, at the very least, for each us to seek each and every day to eliminate the words “they and them” from our words and deeds and to replace them in word and deed with “we and us”.
Let me close with a true story. The church Cinda and I belonged to when I was stationed in San Antonio had a sad and tragic characteristic. For as long as many could remember, whenever a new Senior Pastor was sent to the church there would be standing room only on Sunday mornings for all 3 services. The place was packed – for about 4 to 6 weeks! Then the congregation would shrink to somewhere between 35 and 45% of the initial Sundays’ attendance. Dr. Gray explained to me one day that 4-6 weeks was about the time it took for the various factions in the church to decide if this would be “their” pastor or not. Isn’t that sad and tragic! And of course, those underlying attitudes kept the church from fully realizing but a fraction of its immense potential or taking full advantage of the extraordinary leadership ability of Dr. D. D. Gray.
Likewise, whether as a country or as a church, if we simply retreat to the positions and/or ideas we have convinced ourselves are the truth we will never solve anything of significance. It is only when we listen to one another with compassion and respect and focus our energy cooperating with one another instead of trying to correct or overpower one another, that will discover the possibilities in every crisis and the incredible power of grace to redeem and create anew.
As a reminder to us all, I invite you to join me in making this prayer a part of everyday:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is error, truth; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; and Where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Grace and Peace, John