Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Suffering and Success - Politics
So, Jollyblogger wrote this great post about success and suffering, I then expanded on it a bit and have since been looking at the ramifications of those ideas in personal ministry - church - blogging - career; and today I want to look at it in terms of politics.
Now bear in mind the basic preinciple we are working with here is that the metric of success that Christianity would apply to our lives is not the metric we are so used to in the world, but rather it is suffering. This is pretty hard to apply to politics in a democracy where it is all about the vote and all about winning, which seems pretty antithetical to suffering.
I think the answer to this seeming dlilemma lies in the concept of service and the related concept of humility. When one looks at the last two presidents, on cannot help but be struck by the fact that Bill Clinton wanted to be president, but George W. Bush wanted to do something with the presidency. Do you see the distinction? One was about a person succeeding, the other was about the a person serving.
I think we get confused about politics and religion sometimes because we think that if our religion wins elections, or court cases, we win. But why do we want to win? Certainly not for the sake of winning, but because, hopefully, we believe that our positions will make the nation better.
Have you ever thought about what it takes to actually do politics? For a candidate on the stump, it can be unbeleivably monotonous. Delivering the same speech over and over, many times day. Sometimes when I do training at a clients, I will deliver the same spiel 8-10 times in a day, by the end of the day I am exhausted and I am without mental vitality, my mind turned to some sort of mush be the sheer repitition. Think about doing that weeks in a row.
In the campaign headquarters, its all about mailing lists and stuffing envelopes - about the dullest, most mind-numbing activities you can imagine. Governing itself requires extensive hours, and you can never just make a decision, anything important requires days of conversation and coordination.
Does any of this sound like fun? Not to me, in fact some of it strikes me as near torture. Why would anybody put themselves through that? Well the humble ones, the good ones would do it because they know it needs to be done for the betterment of the community. Some on the other hand, perhaps too many, do it simply for the thrill of victory.
Christianity does not "win" politically - it's still just one faith in a nation of faith diversity. Nope Christianity wins when people accept it, which they do regardless of a specific political issue. But politics is a worthy pursuit for a Christian, provided the right attitude and viewpoint - one of service.
Mark Daniels has been quite kind to this series of posts and sends this quote which is, I think an excellent way to conclude.
Now bear in mind the basic preinciple we are working with here is that the metric of success that Christianity would apply to our lives is not the metric we are so used to in the world, but rather it is suffering. This is pretty hard to apply to politics in a democracy where it is all about the vote and all about winning, which seems pretty antithetical to suffering.
I think the answer to this seeming dlilemma lies in the concept of service and the related concept of humility. When one looks at the last two presidents, on cannot help but be struck by the fact that Bill Clinton wanted to be president, but George W. Bush wanted to do something with the presidency. Do you see the distinction? One was about a person succeeding, the other was about the a person serving.
I think we get confused about politics and religion sometimes because we think that if our religion wins elections, or court cases, we win. But why do we want to win? Certainly not for the sake of winning, but because, hopefully, we believe that our positions will make the nation better.
Have you ever thought about what it takes to actually do politics? For a candidate on the stump, it can be unbeleivably monotonous. Delivering the same speech over and over, many times day. Sometimes when I do training at a clients, I will deliver the same spiel 8-10 times in a day, by the end of the day I am exhausted and I am without mental vitality, my mind turned to some sort of mush be the sheer repitition. Think about doing that weeks in a row.
In the campaign headquarters, its all about mailing lists and stuffing envelopes - about the dullest, most mind-numbing activities you can imagine. Governing itself requires extensive hours, and you can never just make a decision, anything important requires days of conversation and coordination.
Does any of this sound like fun? Not to me, in fact some of it strikes me as near torture. Why would anybody put themselves through that? Well the humble ones, the good ones would do it because they know it needs to be done for the betterment of the community. Some on the other hand, perhaps too many, do it simply for the thrill of victory.
Christianity does not "win" politically - it's still just one faith in a nation of faith diversity. Nope Christianity wins when people accept it, which they do regardless of a specific political issue. But politics is a worthy pursuit for a Christian, provided the right attitude and viewpoint - one of service.
Phil 2:3 - Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;Politics, when done from the Christian perspective is not about winning, it's about regarding one another as more important than oneself. When done that way, politics will involve a lot of suffering, and then we will all succeed to some extent.
Mark Daniels has been quite kind to this series of posts and sends this quote which is, I think an excellent way to conclude.
"In a little writing, Preface to His German Works (1539), Luther says there are three things you need to become a theologian .... oratio, meditatio and tentatio, which are three Latin words for "prayer," "meditation" and "suffering" ....Related Tags: success, suffering, politics, humility, service
This does not mean that we should bring suffering on ourselves .... But as we look over the history of the Christian Church we discover that it is especially those who are in crisis or anguish of soul that find renewal and reformation from the Word. Suffering makes them more open to the Word. Suffering makes them depend on God's promises instead of on themselves. Whereas before they approached the Word as a lifeless object of curiosity and study, in the midst of suffering they approach it as an anchor for their souls. In suffering they see the Word for what it really is, the living voice of God helping them, renewing, restoring, and reviving them in their troubles..."
- Richard P. Bucher, "Revive me according to your Word," February 27, 2002, Evangelical Trinity Lutheran Church Web Site, users.rcn.com
