Right or Left?

The other day I was in the kitchen repotting plants, when someone knocked on the door.  I was up to my elbows in dirt and I asked Mike to help whoever was there.  It was someone doing door to door canvasing about the upcoming mid-term election.  I overheard them as they were talking and she asked specifically for me.  Mike explained I was unavailable and listened to her explain the ballot.

She then asked him how I voted.  He replied, “I honestly don’t know,” and I was delighted.  It’s not that we don’t discuss the issues and weigh them together, because we do.  We talk about issues, weigh the pros and cons, and educate ourselves on platforms, issues, and candidates.  But I am not identified even by the ones closest to me by a political party and I couldn’t be happier.

The rancor of political opinion has grown to such a fevered pitch that I’ve removed myself from Facebook until after the elections.  Otherwise good people have completely blinded themselves in order to support one side or another without taking their party to task for poor choices, poor governance, or poor character.  None of that matters as long as their agenda is pushed through and no one seems to see any problem with that.

The church is called to be a prophetic picture of God’s Kingdom, not a pathetic picture.  Instead of being a light, many who identify themselves as Christians have chosen to worship political power or greed to achieve what they seem to believe God is too weak to provide.  It is a sad state of affairs - a Faustian bargain, if you will.

When people look at me, my life, my character, I hope they see that I am first of all a Christian.  A person who patterns her life after Christ’s life and teachings.  It gets me into trouble from time to time, but that should be expected.  After all, Jesus was often in trouble with the religious elite on both sides - Pharisees and Sadducees.  The right and the left.  Why should I be any different?