An open prayer for this Tuesday

Wherein I describe my understanding of a very tricky subject.

Friends, family, and fellow Americans,

You and I both know this is a big week in American history. I’ve generally avoided posts about the 2024 election because, as I’ll get into, I love people in all corners of the American political tradition, and my goal was to go through this election cycle with gentleness, patience, and relationships intact.

Still, Tuesday feels momentous, and I’ve had a passion for politics for as long as I wanted to write, so today I’ll share what I’ve learned as a political nerd from Portland who loves Jesus.

Where I’m from and where I’m going

I hold two citizenships dear: that I am an American from birth, and that I am a Christian by choice.

My American roots provide me one of the grandest citizenships in history. For almost a century, we have lived sheltered by a superpower with the world’s strongest military, most powerful economy, and broadest global influence. Our history as a world power is checkered indeed, but we have a beautiful land and wonderful people. I speak American vernacular, live steeped in our culture and traditions, and have sworn to uphold our Constitution. I am grateful to be an American.

Then there’s my citizenship in God’s Kingdom, which is greater by far, with infinite implications and soul-satisfying hope. Through Jesus, I have life without end. Through God, I’m sheltered by unceasing power. Through the Holy Spirit, I can live now with peace and joy.

This co-citizenship is mostly straightforward since Jesus’ second commandment is to love our neighbor, and my nearest neighbors are in America.

His first commandment, though, is to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds. In that command, I’m meant to champion just laws and honorable leadership. I serve God’s law first, even if that means disobeying unjust national laws. The question facing every Christian regardless of where they align is: how do we rightly do that?

My own kind of American

As an artistically-minded product of a famously progressive city, loving my neighbors means loving liberals. And as the literal son of Republican forefathers, loving my neighbors also means loving conservatives.

Fortunately, there is usually a lot to love!

The conservatives in my life are typically big-hearted, even-tempered, and work hard to make the world better for their family and community. There are many admirable Republicans, from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Eisenhower to Reagan. Conservatives tend to believe in God, and speak openly as if He exists.

The liberals in my life are typically very thoughtful. They want to learn what the world has to offer and tend toward speaking up for the downtrodden. There are many admirable Democrats, like FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Obama. Many on the Left also believe in God, though in respect for other perspectives, they’re less likely to lead with conversations on faith.

In my affection for both sides of the cultural divide, I see a yearning for goodness, for society to change and grow. I see hope for true and wise leadership. The ideals of both sides often refract the Way of Christ. I frequently feel outside the party system, yet I am drawn to both. Heck, I feel the same with the Green Party and Libertarians.

This was harder to explain a few months ago, before our pastor, Chris Nye, shared this list of ethical markers of the early Christian Church:

1. Profitable and generous business dealings

2. Financial development of institutions

3. Unwillingness to take life no matter the circumstance

4. Drastic sexual fidelity + commitment to family

5. Uncommon hospitality to immigrants

6. Multi-ethnic, racially reconciled gatherings

7. Radical care for the poor

8. Forgiveness offered to all

9. Manifestations of divine power

10. Exclusive worship to Jesus as God

Couldn’t you color the first eight policies a blend of red and blue based on their American political alignment? What’s also clear is neither party reflects or diverges entirely from Christian belief. This isn’t a fluke of time. The early church was also a blend of Culture War divisions and stood utterly apart.

C.S. Lewis wrote on this subject in Mere Christianity, which he shared with his countrymen over BBC airwaves as Great Britain faced daily bombing runs and the imminent threat of invasion by the Totalitarian Nazis.

“But a Christian must not be either a Totalitarian or an Individualist. I feel a strong desire to tell you—and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me—which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs—pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.” (Lewis, 186)

When we rely on only a few of the issues to determine our alliances, we glance away from our eternal aim and lose, temporarily, the miraculously radical balance which Jesus charted for us. In other words, we might hold rooting interest in either side, but that’s not the point. We’re not here to trust in parties or pollsters or policies or politicians.

Next week the top-ranked Oregon Ducks will play the Maryland Terrapins at Autzen Stadium and I will cheer for the Ducks. Of the two teams, it’s the University of Oregon I’m more connected to and aligned with. U of O is closer to where I live. I know their history. I love their colors. I can’t help hoping the Ducks win.

Rooting for a team can take beautiful forms. Communities can be knit together through celebration or commiseration. Across our state, the Ducks offer a shorthand of shared memory: Kenny Wheaton’s interception; Rose Bowls and National Championship runs; when all of Autzen sings “Shout"; names like Fouts, Harrington, Mariota, and Herbert.

But the danger of picking teams is our rooting takes hold and our good-natured fandom devolves. We start lifting up our guys and casting down the others. We think our team is better, more morally sound, more deserving of sympathy. We not-so-secretly cheer when a Huskies star is hobbled.

That dehumanization doesn’t stop with sports. In our national fandoms—where the stakes are so much higher—the seed of our disdain for enemies also blooms into violence. We teeter into Totalitarianism, like handing over our season tickets to hooligans. From the Left, this manifested 80+ years ago as the communist regimes of Russia and China. From the Right, fascism emerged in Germany and Japan. In both cases, the imbalance resulted in horrific brutality and astronomical death tolls.

On the other hand, well-balanced governance, when it’s not stagnant or deadlocked, leads to flourishing for every citizen. That’s what I hope for my American neighbors, so I will vote for more balance. I’ll also vote in honor of my oath to uphold the Consitution and defend all Americans. In a time where the fronts of world war are opening up, I’ll vote to stand by our oldest and strongest alliances across the world. I’ll vote to protect my many neighbors—immigrants, journalists, the houseless, the marginalized—who face outspoken threats and darkening rhetoric.

But my vote will mean less than little, and I won’t mistake any President as my truest authority. After my vote is cast, I’ll go back to matters with more eternal meaning: loving God, caring for my family and neighbors, and praying our country’s better angels prevail.

In that final tack I’m following advice from the Apostle Paul to Saint Timothy as the early Church grew:

“The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3, MSG

Okay, but what then?

If we’re not meant to choose sides, then are we really just supposed to pray? Should we take the path of Christian Anarchists? Or walk the way of our Amish, Mennonite, and Quaker brethren? Maybe! Those movements and congregations stand firm against the human addiction to power and politics. Also, though, God’s body is varied, and it doesn’t seem like all of us are supposed to stand aside as our neighbors turn on each other, or whistle while our 248 year-old nation state groans.

We Christians believe the story we’re in has constant machinations. Wars come and go. Kingdoms grow and die. No matter how mighty our empire or any other becomes, each will eventually fall.

Only one kingdom sustains from beginning to end: the Kingdom of God in Heaven. There is no other solid ground to stand on.

That Kingdom’s King treated each person as unique and precious. He formed abiding friendships, and has a following which still grows two millenia later. He fed the masses. He healed the sick and blind. He calmed storms, turned tables, and taught better than anyone before or since. He rode to coronation on a donkey. He claimed to be the Messiah, and turned himself over to authorities. When accused, His response was silence. We killed Him and He forgave us and flipped everything upside down. In Tim Keller’s words, Jesus was not a political leader, and He was the best political leader. All other kings conquered for power. Jesus sacrificed himself. Then He killed the curse of death.

Jesus is the Way through.

God’s promise is not that we are safe, or our country will be okay. Maybe we are all in grave danger. Even then, there’s a plan, which our Savior shared even as he faced imminent death on the cross.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. … I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. … Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John‬ ‭14‬:‭1-2, ‭7, 12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

History rolls on. So what else can we Christians do but clumsily trust God’s long game and keep going, learning to love Him and one another each new day? That is the work of eternal resonance, and Christ’s way is for both forever and now.

So God, please bless America. Channel wise leadership our way. Above all, let Your will be done. Amen.