Today’s Scripture Reading (July 22, 2018): Genesis 31
In
June 2018, Erick Erickson, a politically conservative American blogger, argued
that as our culture becomes more secular, people do not necessarily move away
from religion, but rather allow other things, like politics, to fulfill their
religious needs. And
the problem with that is that religions, like Christianity, come with a concept
of grace which is completely absent in politics. In politics, the only aim is
to beat the other. Maybe the bottom line is that,
while we might attempt to fill our religious needs with things like politics,
the two cannot replace each other because they have very different aims. (Although
I have to admit in a world that seems to be more and more divided, introducing
the religious concept of grace into politics seems to be a welcome addition.)
The other factor is
that it shifts allegiances. Politically, we want what is best for the party
that we support, something that, with the loss of civility in American
politics, is becoming more and more apparent. Our allegiance is to a particular
shade of our nations. So, again in the current political environment, people
who do not agree with us politically are shouted down or asked to leave
restaurants. (On a personal note, politically I am a conservative, and in an
even more narrow view, I am a fiscal conservative, but I have also found that I
have not been able to support North American conservative policies either in
the United States or Canada. As a result, I have been shouted down over social
media from the conservative supporters. It has been a new experience.
But I am a
Christian. And as a follower of Christ, my political affiliation is secondary.
Religion, and for me especially Christianity, asks us to lift up our gaze and
see what is best for this world, which we believe has a divine origin. Our
allegiance to Christ means that we look beyond political affiliation or even
our nationalism, to something that extends beyond our differences. We are all
the creations of Christ. And we might have political views, but religion means
that our allegiance has shifted.
There is a very
real way in which the question of Leah and Rachel is fundamentally wrong. Their
allegiance should have shifted. Maybe the question is born from their situation
in which they are married to Jacob, but
still living in the political realm of their father. But they are no longer in
the house of their father. They are in the house of Jacob. They have left the
gods of Nahor behind in favor of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their inheritance now lives with
Jacob, and not their father, Nahor.
Religiously, we too
leave the houses of our political inclinations and respond to the call of God
on our lives. And there we hear a call that is both more macro and micro on our
lives. We see how God works within the world in which we live, devoid of political
and national borders, and we see how God moves in the lives of people from
differing political stripes. And there we find the grace to come together and
talk with each other, forgiving each other for our transgressions.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Genesis 32
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