October 23, 2024
Friends,
As you know, there will be a national election in a few short weeks. Given that reality, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on politics.
I’m not able to say everything in this letter that I might. And there’s nothing that I’ll say that in this letter that is especially new or profound. But I thought it might be helpful for you to hear a few simple things from your pastor as we enter into another round of elections.
First, I want you to know that you should feel free to participate as much as you feel called in the political process. In God’s providence, we are part of a constitutional republic, and you should feel every freedom to participate as much or as little in political action as you feel called to exercise that freedom.
This might include voting, openly supporting particular political candidates or issues, engaging in political debate with friends or neighbors, knocking on doors for a campaign, or even running for political office yourself. I support you in these endeavors, and believe these are all practices Christians may freely engage in.
But, if you choose to engage in these kinds of political activities, I encourage you to do so intentionally as a Christian. This, of course, means many things, but at a very minimum it means this:
1) Your life is meant to be characterized by the fruit of the Holy Spirit which Jesus has given you. So, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control should all be front and center in your political participation and discourse. These fruits are not optional for the Christian life. They are a description of the holiness of Jesus that must characterize all of our lives if we are follow him, including our political lives.
2) However you engage in the political process, I would encourage you to do so in a way so that, as far as you can control, your heart’s peace and hope is not overly tied to the outcome of a particular election, legislative vote, supreme court decision, etc., etc.
We all long for the Kingdom of God. And our ultimate political theology is demonstrated by actively putting our hope in the reign of Jesus, which is not dependent on any election that has ever taken place. As Psalm 146:3-10 states:
“Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!”
Let’s not forget that the church of Jesus Christ has survived and even flourished under all kinds of oppressive political systems and wicked regimes and unjust laws in its long history over the past two thousand years.
Even today around the world, the church is sustained and even thrives under governing authorities who are much more evil than anything we have ever experienced in the United States. Remembering this will help make us wise as we participate in our own political system.
Beloved, I know that many of us may be anxious about what the future might bring for our nation. And I understand that anxiety, and certainly share many of those concerns.
But at the same time, our Lord Jesus teaches us very specifically not to be anxious or afraid. No matter what comes tomorrow or in the years ahead, Jesus will sustain his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against us as his kingdom marches forward. And nothing that happens in this world (or this nation) is outside of his plan or his reign.
Finally, as you have probably noticed by now, I choose to speak only in limited ways about political candidates or contemporary political issues as your pastor (one notable exception is abortion – in my view, abortion is the most significant moral issue of this age, and I am happy to encourage efforts to conform the laws of our nation and our state to the law of God in order to further the protection of innocent and vulnerable human life – you can read my pastoral letter after the end of Roe v. Wade here).
I know that there are other pastors who think and act differently than I do and some are much more aggressive in speaking about their voting history or giving specific political advice, but in sixteen years of ordained ministry, that has not been my approach.
The reason for my approach is two-fold.
First of all, I think there are a large number of political issues that faithful Christians can safely disagree on, and I am aware of my public role in the church. I want our church to be a place where political opinions do not unnecessarily divide, and in fact, where we are truly united around the person of the Lord Jesus, not contemporary political allegiances. And I think my public role as a pastor has some influence in creating space for that unity.
Second, in a culture that often seems to take as a basic assumption that our current political questions and contemporary political outcomes are the most important things that human beings can think about or personally influence, I would like my general silence on most current political questions to be a subtle reminder that this is in fact not true. I tell you friends, it is not true.
There are some ways in which the election in a little under two weeks matters. But in most of things that are most important, its outcome doesn’t really matter that much at all.
For example, regardless of what happens on November 5, my call to you as your pastor on November 6 will be the exactly the same. Nothing about our fundamental mission as a church will change, no matter who is president, or which political party controls congress.
We will still pray. We will still preach. We will still sing. We will still seek to live faithfully in obedience to Jesus by keeping our marriage vows, raising our children, working hard in our vocations, loving our neighbors, and living in integrity with everyone.
And most importantly, each and every Lord’s Day we will gather to proclaim publicly to the world and our neighbors that the true king of the nations is the Risen Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and we will announce the joyful good news that submitting to the reign and rule of Jesus Christ our Lord in the obedience of faith is the only hope for the peace of the world and the salvation of all men.
Let’s keep following Jesus together.
Much love,
Pastor Josh
