Witnessing to the Politics of Love

"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf . . ."

—Jeremiah 29:7

Beloved in Christ, 

Today marks another moment of great weight and anxiety in our nation. Election day has always been important, of course. On days like today, major decisions are made that shape the course of our common life and have real impact on the lives of us and our fellow citizens. That always has and always will inspire passion and strong feelings. In recent years, though, election day has taken on what feels like an even weightier significance. Our nation is so thoroughly polarized that the very durability of our democracy feels like it is shaking. We often regard those on the other side of the divide not just as having wrong ideas but as being bad people. We don't just disagree with the ideas, but often scorn the person who holds them. That always puts us in dangerous spiritual, as well as political, territory. 

It is common to say that religion and politics should never mix. As a disciple of Jesus, that sentiment sounds like nonsense to me. The gospel is always political. Jesus, and the good news of God's salvation he came to announce and inaugurate, always has to do with the way resources are allocated, how power is exercised, who matters, and how we are to live in the real world together. The candidates we are electing today will have an impact on all of that. Our faith is not merely a private opinion or an interesting hobby, it demands constant engagement with what actually happens in the real world. 

The gospel is inescapably political. It is never, however, partisan. Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat. Jesus doesn't endorse this candidate or that candidate, or demand one piece of legislation or another. The gospel offers a vision of a political economy—literally a way of ordering human community—that is based entirely on the power of love. The politics of love always seek good for the other. The politics of love always stand on the side of the person who is rejected, or vulnerable, or powerless. In the political economy of love, power and authority don't exist to advance their own interests, but to point toward God's perfect kingdom of love, which is coming into the world. Instead of arguing about how God is on our side, our political engagement should always ask how we can best be on love's side.

I hope you will seek the welfare of your city today by voting in whatever way you believe will move us closer to that vision of love. I hope you will pray fervently today for the welfare of your city and our nation. And, no matter the outcomes, I hope you will remember that the world ultimately belongs to Jesus, who is the Lord of Love, and not to any temporal party or power. Easter has decided that once, for all, and forever. Our job as disciples isn't to win. We simply stand as witnesses to the politics of love, managing the small patch of life we've been handed to bend the world, as best as we can, in the direction of love. And our cry of alleluia, every time we shout it, announces God's perfect love is this old, broken, beautiful world's inevitable end. 

Grace and peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop