From the Pastor…
As this is written, it is Day 32 of the partial government shutdown.
Wait… before you skip over this article and move on to another part of the newsletter, please allow me to explain my fixation on the current situation. It’s not that I want to beat a dead horse or challenge the age-old taboo about mixing religion and politics.
Ok, there is no dead horse. And I want to talk about religion and politics. How can we not? To avoid it would somehow be to admit that the two arenas are mutually exclusive, that they are always destined to exist in an echo chamber filled with noise and sound waves bouncing unnoticed off of walls.
The danger, of course, in daring to treat such subjects is that there will quickly emerge a need for winners and losers, for being right and wrong. And perhaps a question: “What about separation of church and state?”
Let’s step back from traveling down that road and acknowledge that- Luther’s Two Kingdoms aside- our faith, our teachings, and what we hold as important in the biblical witness necessarily inform how we view the world and what is going on in it. How we behave from day to day.
Scripturally speaking, yes, we are easily tempted to pick and choose what resonates with us. We may look for scripture that corroborates, affirms, supports our assumptions and theories and fears while paying little heed to context or original language or thoughtful commentary or relevance to the real world. We sometimes lend authority to scripture passages that deserve little or no such consideration.
We may even know in our hearts what is right, but will refuse to go there because of… what?
After his baptism and time in the wilderness, Jesus goes to the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. He stands before the assembly and reads from Isaiah 61, the part that speaks of one who will come to bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.
He then rolls up the scroll and sits down. People apparently are waiting for some sort of follow-up from Jesus. He proceeds to tell them that that very day, in their hearing, the words he just read from Isaiah- written centuries before his arrival- are fulfilled. In him.
Jesus reveals a central piece of his mission: bringing good news to the oppressed, binding up the brokenhearted. And the balance of the gospel witness is spent putting meat on these bones, filling out what this good news looks like.
By the time you receive this, the shutdown may have been resolved. In any event, what part of the current 5th grade shoving match reveals any consideration for those affected, those caught in the middle? The oppressed and brokenhearted, the “hordes” streaming across our southern border, the employees working without pay, are mere pawns in a pointless staring contest.
And we must ask ourselves what any of this has to do with bringing good news to the oppressed, and binding up the brokenhearted.
Peace,
Pastor Jeff
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