Red Letter Christians

The Election, Your Spirituality, & the Soul of our Nation #4

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John Wesley, founder of Methodism, loved to gather people and ask “How is it with your soul?” One of the largest questions of this election season! No one thinks conventions, ads, parties and politics make us better, holier or wiser. What throws you off balance, what makes you crazy, what divides you from your neighbor is not of God. The risen Christ visited the fearful, anxious disciples hiding behind locked doors, trembling over the troubles of their world – and he said “Peace.” Are you at peace?

I am perplexed to see, on Facebook and Instagram, and in emails and texts fired around and then copied my way, my own beloved church people spouting vicious, simplistic, demeaning, and crude expressions of political preference, ridiculing others more than lifting up the virtues of the one they adore. What greater evidence could there be of a disordered spirituality? Or a lack of love? What happens to the soul of our nation if this kind of spitball hurling becomes the norm of how we talk to others?

We are responsible for our spiritual selves, and we are responsible for the soul of the nation. What is the nation except us? Can’t we matter? It all feels inevitable, but it is not. We can change – ourselves, and others. We can be more godly, more like God – and as Christians, more like Jesus.

But you have to weigh how you think and your so-very-brilliant positions against Jesus. To do so, you need to read and ponder Jesus, not refashion him to suit your biases. Sure, people tell me religion and politics don’t mix, and I get dinged regularly for mixing. I understand well that this is code language. It means “You said something that disagrees with my politics.” If I say something that agrees? No mention of “religion and politics don’t mix.” Given the way Jesus usually is Jesus, we should not be surprised if he doesn’t agree with our politics!

We look to the Bible, and never elsewhere, to figure out our politics. God clearly cares, and has plenty to say about the issues we face. Jim Wallis asked his students to take Bibles he’d given them, and with scissors to cut out whatever in the Bible seemed to be political. They cut huge chunks from Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, Kings, Psalms, the prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles – and wound up with what he called “the Holey Bible.”

I like Tony Campolo’s suggestion that we form a party of “Red Letter Christians,” those who take their cues, not from the politicians or pundits, but from the words of Jesus – as in those old-timey Bibles highlighted with red letters. Who tells us what to think? Jesus. Red Letter Christians can be Republican or Democrat – and hopefully both, but often neither. They can and should be the “leaven” in the world; they (as Campolo suggests) “should be the ultimate swing vote, holding both sides accountable to a broader moral vision.”

There is in truth a Christian angle on the issues we face, and more clarity than you might imagine. We’ll explore several. As people of faith we may disagree on how to implement God’s ideas; but we can’t support anything contrary to God’s way, and we can’t ignore what God has insisted we be involved in. We’ll explore more deeply what God would have us work toward, and also how God would have us work toward these things, in future emails! Thank you for tuning in and thinking with me.

The Rev. James C. Howell is senior pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C. This post is republished with the author's permission from his biweekly email to church members and other interested persons. Click here to subscribe.