i, the person: an open letter to my kids on loving jesus & america

i got riled up last night watching the election.

let me amend that: i got riled up last night watching some of my christian friends' reactions to the election.

just like the chick-fil-gay thing, i really try to stay out of controversial subjects on social media, because i dont see a lot of hearts being won over by the best status update or most face-melting zinger. 

but on a rare occasion i feel that it goes beyond personal political preference and strays into a place where truth might not be getting a fair voice. that jesus might not be getting a fair representation.  so i speak up (woe to me, possibly).

but i wanted to blog it out, rather than just leaving it to FB so that i would have documented for myself later on, and hopefully even my kids, where i was and what my heart had to say on election night 2012.

ok this was actually supposed to be a side-splittingly hilarious joke on election morning wherein i appeared to have gotten everyone's "voting" statuses mixed up with the word "boating." comic gold, right? but then it was pouring down rain and i think people thought i was making a weather joke.  maybe i should just make it a "choose your own adventure" joke.

then after i cast my vote and the polls started to close, i got really solemn about the weight of the gift we have been born into.  i thought about how i had been considering skipping voting because of the bad weather and then was reminded of the men who never had the chance to stand in line to vote because they thought that the right was worth their very LIVES. 

blammo. because 4 hours of wolf blitzer requires a little levity. (best followup comment by a friend: "You would've made a stellar FIGHTING ELECTRODE....")

and when the result started to be made pretty clear,and the "i'm moving to the caymans/canada/bahamas" statuses started rolling in, big mommy got kind of mad. 

 because politics may give us differing views from our brothers and sisters in christ, but NOTHING gives us a different standard than His.

judah, layla, and any as-yet unborn children of mine: 

you are the heirs of two amazing heritages: the freedom of america and the blood of christ. know that neither was cheaply purchased--though one is infinitely more valuable--and that both inheritances require things of you. 

you arent entitled to get more because you have them; rather you are called to give and love and BE more out of the abundance that they have afforded you.

please remember that having one doesnt give you more of a right to the other.  your faith doesnt serve to prop up or prove valid a particular political platform (spoiler alert: they're all wrong in some way), and your savior certainly doesnt need your politics [or anything] to be "right" before you come to him.

know that democratic freedom and christ's grace started as revolutions. actual revolts of the heart, body and mind over systems that declared we werent all equal, that we would never be worthy. though being an american christian today is about as expected or middle-of-the-road as it gets (demographically), yours is the legacy of revolutionaries. act accordingly. protect, welcome, and represent the downtrodden and marginalized. love with abandon when it makes no sense.

one thing that america and jesus have in common is the characteristic of voluntarily laying down power. our democratic republic's is centered on temporary terms of service--not rule--in office for elected officials (and an amazing precedent set by washington in his stepping down after 2 terms when the public quite literally would have made him king).  

our savior's example is far more poignant and perfect as described  in phillipians 2:

...Christ Jesus 

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant

.

i think one of the most beautiful things about our nation is that it is a small and imperfect reflection of christ's attitude. our governing officials, who--so often in previous history have been viewed almost equal to gods--instead should consider themselves servants and willingly make themselves obedient and humble to others. 
.
please remember that the only country god ever cared for above any other was israel. jesus isnt a fan of america the country and doesnt need you to fight for it on his behalf. he is the ransomer of hearts; make yours his territory exclusively. borders and systems and regimes will change, put your heart in the hands of the unchanging; follow his example.

as great and worthy as both of your heritages are, at some point you are going to realize that one is vapor and one is gold. this doesnt mean our country is less; it just means our king is oh so much MORE.  only jesus is eternal and worthy of our everything. protect, honor, and defend your political human freedoms but, as citizens of heaven, realize that their true power isnt in what they themselves offer, but in the fact that they afford us unrestricted earthly access to worship jesus and proclaim his kingdom without punishment or fear.

we cant argue or complain or legislate people into agreeing with us. but we can, and must, love them into christ's arms. politics can make enemies out of us all. this is an opportunity to put that badass revolutionary spirit on display and LOVE our enemies. liking and high-fiving everyone who agrees with us is easy and never changed anyone's heart.  

sometimes i wonder if living in a government system that gets so easily confused with a religion is a blessing or a curse. because america's system is sort of, kind of close to jesus's message, it often gets confused with it. the last thing i want for you is to get conned into some watered-down jesus-lite culture that comes up short politically AND spiritually. 

our best bet is to know him. his voice, his word, his life, his love. cling to that and fight against anything that tries to make it something less than revolutionary, perfect, and humble.

love,

your once-anti-american, reformed cynic of a jesus-loving mom who gets it wrong more often than not, but that's okay because it's not about getting it right.




they say it better than me:

-on political idolatry

-7 things christians need to remember about politics