Politics as a Spiritual Discipline

I received a nice piece of writing from my friend and Jacob's Well congregation member Chad Jolly. He has given me permission to share it. So, in a sense, Chad is guest-blogging today for me.

Politics as a Spiritual Discipline
Reflections on Election 2008

As we say goodbye to Election 2008, I am staring at a pile of unsolicited flyers and ridiculous e-mail forwards that I saved for kindling. They recall salacious Youtube clips and “robo-calls” telling me that I should be afraid . . . very afraid. “Change,” yes I am ready for change. I have been fed a steady diet of political red-meat and I need to go to the gym.

Many of us emerge from an election with a sharper understanding and appreciation for the phrase, “the medium is the message.” The reality is that an election creates a platform, not just for the candidates, but for each of us. A place to stand up and reveal more about ourselves than we otherwise might. We reveal our hearts, our passions, our ignorance, our fears, and too often our inability to accept complexity or ambiguity. But far too often the political arena is reduced to a parade ground where we display our obsession with certainty and security, and our delusion that we have found it in a bottle.

If the “medium is the message,’ I am left with questions. What do we communicate when we let our politics and advocacy carelessly spill over one another? What does it reveal that we often say more than we know or say it louder than we should? How do principled people find themselves accepting, or facilitating, varying degrees of manipulation? When did it become tolerable to use our faith as a tool to divide or as justification for resisting complexity? How can Christians who are called not to be fearful, allow fear such a public foothold?

I should mention that this year came with great encouragement. People supporting both Presidential candidates with great conviction inspired me. It was refreshing to find passionate advocates who were quick to also suggest the shortcomings of their candidate. I learned something from Christians who abstained from the process on grounds of principle. Christian friends stood up for compassion, humility, and grace as they worked to put this election into proper context. I learned from agnostics and those from faith traditions different than my own. Politics creates a platform.

What would it look like for Christians to approach politics as a kind of spiritual discipline? A discipline that would require one to carefully consider not only what is put on the personal platform, but also how we communicate what is there. We would work to be charitable and appropriate and measured in our responses. We would strive to be curious. We would resist reducing complex issues down to singular and sharp and fiery points. Above all, we would remember where our ultimate hope resides and grow more comfortable with plurality, life’s ambiguity, and God’s rich complexity.

We would emerge with a better understanding of what it means to be a medium and to be a message.

Comments

[Zac Workun]

i have always found invigorating and disheartening that for one brief season people around the country have an opinion. Informed and uninformed, passionate and apathetic... this election season will be marked by an unbridled support for american political candidates... good or bad, shallow or deep... it is hopeful that people do care about somethings and are not entirely numb beyond sentiment and football...

[Tyler]

Again, another sigh... well said and much needed. The past few months have shown much, wounded much, and healed much. Hope we can live up to Chad's words from here.