My politics is driven by my Christianity. If my politics doesn’t match the words and actions of Jesus, then my politics must move. It’s not a matter of liberal or conservative, fascist or Marxist. Those are all labels used to justify or to attack.
What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? That’s my politics, beginning and end.
Jesus’ message is not complicated. Love one another. Shelter the stranger. Feed the poor. Heal the sick. Pay workers a living wage. If my neighbor (and EVERYONE in Jesus’ mind is my neighbor) is hungry or thirsty or sick or endangered – ensure their needs are met. Without applying a ‘deserving’ test. (Good Samaritan parable, for reference.)
This is called: Following Jesus 101.
I’m not very good at it. I’m not very good at loving, at abstaining from judgment, or at most of what Jesus is about. But it doesn’t stop me from aiming my spiritual, emotional and political ship toward the North Star. (If he hasn’t been called that yet, well, now he has. lol.)
And it doesn’t stop me from pointing out when ideology that purports to be aiming toward him has gone awry. It’s not rocket science. Does ‘this’ (any this) jive with what Jesus says we should do? If it doesn’t, all the justification in the world will not make it magically align.
As a Christian, I am not called to pretend that it does, for civility or unity or any other reason. On the contrary, I’m called to the opposite.
And not following Jesus is not following Jesus. Which is fine. People don’t have to follow Jesus. People can choose to follow their political ideology instead. But they must be HONEST with themselves about what they have chosen.
What this election has done is to throw back the curtain on left and right alike. Unmasked the ugliness that has masqueraded as Politics In The Name Of Religion. The light of day has finally flooded in, and no one can pull the curtain closed again.
The bottom line is, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
I’ve chosen. Not Democrat, Republican, liberal or conservative. I’ve chosen Jesus, in the strictest sense. Does a policy (a stance, an attitude, etc) contradict what Jesus said, what he did, what he envisioned? Then I cannot support it, and I will speak against it if asked.
Does it affirm his vision of unabridged love, care, concern, and acceptance? Then I’ll do my best to affirm it and help make it so.
I don’t care to hear excuses about why doing something Jesus commanded (feed, clothe, house, provide medical care) isn’t practical or possible. My motto: the impossible just takes a little longer.
I’m a terrible servant of Christ. I’m gritchy, judgy, cranky. I know this. But I will keep trying until I run out of days to try.
Ariyawen 