Politics, patience, and power…and theology
November 10, 2007
Politicians, we all know, are among the least respected people in our society. We assume the worst about them and nod our heads sagely as one or another of them is exposed as venal, or hypocritical, or merely ambitious.
Yet we need them, and we need Christians among them.
Politics is about multiple policies, procedures, publics–and therefore about patience. No wonder so many people who want to get things done, and get them done soon, and get them done in a straightforward way tend to despise and avoid political careers.
Christians, of all people, should therefore get involved.
Our theology equips us to expect, and not be shocked by, sin, stupidity, absurdity, and waste. We should take for granted that some people’s motives are bad, everyone’s motives are mixed, and political systems are corrupt, with all that money and power at stake.
Our theology should also, however, lead us to expect some success, some goodness, and some blessing. We who know how things eventually turn out, and who know that God intends to bless the world in the meanwhile, should be hopeful of at least some measure of shalom from government.
So, given our grasp of the light and the dark, the positive and the negative, the “mixed field of the world” and what it takes to get anything worthwhile accomplished in it, we should be unusually patient. And yet we usually aren’t.
Recently, a friend wrote about a problem at the high school he serves as a teacher. Apparently, a staff worker with a well-known Christian organization (let’s call it “Jesus Youth,” since I’m pretty sure there is no such group) has been volunteering at the school. Trouble arose, however, when this staffer volunteered to drive some kids to a drama festival some distance away for the weekend, and sent home permission slips to parents emblazoned with the logo of “Jesus Youth,” and not the school. A parent (whom I’m calling “Mr. Fraun”) complained that he didn’t want some missionary taking his daughter on a school outing.
I was asked to comment, and I would be interested to know what you think of the issues involved. Here it is, with all of the particulars changed to protect identities.
Some Musings on Missions…
May 28, 2007
One of my favourite magazines is Books & Culture, a sort of Christian New York Review of Books. Its editor, John Wilson, is perfectly suited to his job: generous, clear, and demanding toward his authors, and in his editorials astonishingly erudite, invariably wise, and never, ever dull. If you’re tired of “dumb” religious media, here’s one to restore your faith in, well, faith.
Your servant happens to have a piece published in the most recent number, offering some provocations regarding evangelical views of missions. And there’s lots more in the archives, including a terrific evisceration of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion by mega-philosopher Alvin Plantinga.
I’m betting that anyone who likes this blog will really like this magazine. Check it out!
