merefaith: two friends on pilgrimage

Congratulations to Mr. Obama for his accomplishment. If Peter could call his countercultural, nonviolent, persecuted brethren to "honor the emperor" (1 Peter 2:17), then I cannot refrain from praying for the president-elect and wishing him well. There is much to be honored. While I would have a hangover right now if I played a drinking game centered on the use of the word "historic" in the media, the word is indeed apt. Racism, in its personal and institutional forms, is far from finished in America. But whatever our opinions on the candidates or the issues, or even the structure of the system itself - flawed, broken, but with cracks of light as in most places - this is a hopeful sign that our ongoing and difficult conversation about race can lurch forward towards redemptive paths. And while our flawed democracy also remains largely the purview of wealthy elites playing together the interest-group game, Obama's community organizing past (which may have some affinities with the exhibition of radical democracy by Hauerwas and Coles), seemed to have filtered into a presidential campaign organization that was more flexible and more engaged with grassroots participation.

All this to say that I don't mean simply to be a curmudgeon or a cynic. I am prepared to congratulate Obama when it seems his leadership coheres with what the Church discerns about the gospel. But I am also prepared to speak against his leadership when it doesn't. Such is the tension of the Christian witness.

As the partisans of politics dance with jubilation or mourn with despair in the aftermath of the election, Christians who attended morning prayer offered up prayers of perspective - prayers that remind us that the political sphere is not the ground of being. Most daily office readings included Psalm 72, which is a royal psalm that presents quite a positive take on Israel's kingship. It is asked that he rule a vast reign and be blessed with wealth. Nevertheless, his subordination is made clear in the first verse: "Give the king your justice, O God!" The king is still obligated to judge and rule with righteousness and compassion.

In morning prayer at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, however, we read a psalm with a more explicitly subversive outlook. I wish it were the one read in every daily office this morning, for then its timing would seem quite providential. At least it was for me. Psalm 146 offers a sharp rebuke to those who place their hope in men:

Labels: Discipleship, Liturgy

Posted by Chris Schelin at Wednesday, November 05, 2008 | Permalink | Comments

I'm sitting in my office at the church, so this will be brief.

I've ruminated a lot lately on politics, transformation, and Christian discipleship. Just a few weeks ago I completed (it's a pretty quick read) Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting. I have recognized for some time now that the ritual of voting in American democracy, and the infrastructure supporting it, are both deeply problematic. From a variety of perspectives (black, white, and naturalized; Mennonite, Pentecostal, Baptist, and Catholic) the contributors of this volume have demythologized voting as "the solution" or as "speaking your voice" and have raised a series of important questions that the people in the pews should hear and consider.

I want to be a part of real solutions, however, and not just a self-righteous megaphone or a muttering cynic. With that in mind, I have spent part of this Election Day reading Romand Coles and Stanley Hauerwas' Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian. Hauerwas, as most visitors of this blog are aware, is Duke's infamous and iconoclastic Christian ethicist. Rom Coles, formerly of Duke as well, is a political scientist and community activist. Through the agency of their students they became friends and then began a conversation and co-taught a class which served as the basis for this book. Together, they invite us to consider a politics of radical receptivity that will challenge our current deficient system, which they identify as a "politics of death." I hope to learn much from their conversation on radical democracy and radical ecclesia.

In the meantime, I may have to settle today for pointing out the bold and ultimately blasphemous claims made by the idolaters who bow before the altar of the political process as it currently brokers power relationships. It seems that voting has become, for Americans, a modern Pelagian soteriology and eschatology. What will our collective "efforts" (pushing a button or filling in an oval is the barest of political acts) accomplish? Why, they will change the world. It's not just reporter Christiane Amanpour who is breathless with anticipation over the redemption of Zion. Spend some time scrolling down and read the messianic theologies contained in the readers' comments. "We wait for the new dawn!" writes one.

Not that I dispute there are notable differences between the candidates. Nor do I pretend that the winner will surely make significant decisions as president. And, finally, while I wince at Obama-worship, I am even more disgusted with the (implied or explicit) racist imprecations hurled against him.

But God help Christians, whether their conscience led them to vote or abstain, to soundly declare our faith and confidence that the dawn has come, the world is changing, and it's because we submit to the King who reigned from a tree. How pitiful it will be if Christians in America invest more emotional and spiritual energy into this day than they will twenty-six days from now, the beginning of Advent. The light has come into the world. Thanks be to God!

Labels: Discipleship

Posted by Chris Schelin at Tuesday, November 04, 2008 | Permalink | Comments