A Call to Faithful Engagement

Dear First Pres SLO Family,

Grace and peace to you in the name of the one who loves us with a perfect love, the one who demonstrated that love by serving and healing and dying—all for us.

I wonder what God thinks about this election season in the US. Maybe, just maybe, God doesn’t think about it at all—maybe God has more important things to do than watch as a segment of our nation tries to use his name to validate all kinds of behaviors he doesn’t like. Maybe God doesn’t care about our politics at all.

But then again, maybe God does.

It’s true, there’s nothing about democracy in the Bible. Through most of the years represented in our Old and New Testaments, democracy didn’t exist, and when it did it was unrecognizable to ours. In ancient Greece, only a few people got to vote or hold office—their version of representative democracy wasn’t very, well, representative.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn a few things from the Bible about our own politics—about the values that matter in our public lives.

Here are a few things that God wants from people of faith during election seasons—these are more or less in biblical order, not order of priority.

First, God wants the earth to be cared for and protected. That’s the real sense of Genesis 1:28, where God says we should “be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”(The Message)

Second, God wants the people on the margins to be welcomed and cared for. There are literally too many passages like this to list them all, but here are a few. About migrants and strangers God says this: “When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don’t take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.” (NIV)

Third, God wants all people to be treated fairly and humanely—the courts can’t only be for the wealthy, they should serve everyone. Through the Prophet Amos God says this:

“For I know how many are your offenses

    and how great your sins.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes

    and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,

    for the times are evil.

14 Seek good, not evil,

    that you may live.

Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,

    just as you say he is.

15 Hate evil, love good;

    maintain justice in the courts.” (Amos 5:12-15)

All of this is before Jesus, who said that the poor, the mourners, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, and the peacemakers were closest to his heart. (Matthew 5:3-9)

Jesus adds, just a few verses later, that when we get hit we should offer up another part of us to take the pain, instead of retaliating (5:38-42). And just in case that wasn’t clear, Jesus calls us to love our enemies (5:43-45).

I could go on…

Here’s the point: It seems that God cares very much about how we organize ourselves—how we live together in community, and also how we engage the strangers and foreigners and aliens. I’m not making this up—GOD said it, not me.

And so maybe, just maybe, what happens in our election next week matters to God…a lot. Since that appears to be true, make sure that the views you hold and the people you support will reflect the ways that God wants this world to run. You’re hearing plenty voices on all sides of these issues. The deciding factor on who you vote for isn’t your party, your pocketbook, or your pastor.

The deciding factor in whomever and whatever you vote for is Jesus, and Jesus alone.

We’re going to talk about this on Sunday, too. If you can, make sure you’re there.

Blessings to you,

Pastor John