The election is over. It’s the end of a turbulent experience we all longed for and looked forward too, but for half the country, it took a surprising turn. The results came in and the stress that was carried through the ruthless election quickly changed to feelings of helplessness and fear for tomorrow.
Donald Trump is now president-elect of the United States of America and unfortunately that America is very broken indeed.
The biggest question I have encountered from my Christian friends is, “How can the people who claim to follow Christ also vote to follow Trump?”
Trump has a checkered moral history. Even more so, his campaign included themes of racism, bigotry, and sexism. I’m not saying Hillary had any sort of perfect record. To be clear, I would be writing this same thing if she had been elected.
However, when we look at the cold hard truth, Trump looks absolutely nothing like the person, nor the values of Christ. Yet a large portion of Christ’s followers in the American evangelical church helped him get elected.
I can’t offer any advice on how to run a country, much less my own garage… but what I can do is offer some perspective on the person of Jesus and how he reacted to a government His people had no idea how to cope with.
Here’s exactly what he did: In the light of the Roman government, which was much more oppressive than our own, he offered a completely new way of life… and it didn't look like a run for public office.
Jesus offered a way of life so powerful, and subversive that it changed the entire world. Not just the Roman government in which His movement started.
It was a movement defined by love and more to the point, how we were to love each other in the same manner that we love ourselves.
I want to be fair here and to compare Jesus to any political candidate is grossly unfair. I’m not trying to bash our new president-elect, I’m trying to offer up peace for those of us who can’t help the comparison.
Here is the truth… We have to come to grips that it isn’t right to compare. So much of the hurt and fear we are experiencing can be healed by letting go of this comparison, and not just for Trump but for all candidates.
That being said, love, isn’t an easy trait to attribute to our new president-elect.
So what was so attractive to Evangelical Christians about this man?
I would argue that Trump looks a whole lot like the leadership in the churches I grew up in. In fact, he acts in a similar manner to some of the most famous preachers in the evangelical sphere. Due to his success in business, he is also powerful like a lot of the evangelicals I grew up with.
Headstrong, full of fervor and vision but lacking in a couple of major areas.
I can’t speak to the country, but I will speak to the church. We have to stop, making strong personalities a priority in our pulpits. Because when people like Trump come on the political scene they look really familiar to mega-church christians. It feels like we should be put them in power, so we forget to look at the deeper matters of the heart.
My dear fellow Christians and kind hearted people, who feel betrayed and hurt by this election-
Our main focus at this point should not be to dwell on the past. We must look to the future.
Don’t you see? This is a call to action as Christ followers. To love deeper and lean into the example of Jesus.
There has never been a better opportunity in American history to re-invent ourselves in the public eye.
Instead of being known by political affiliation we have the opportunity to declare our independence from a particular party, and nothing would be better news for the church than a move towards Jesus and away from the White House.
I know this time is full of fear, but what if we took that fear and turned into excitement. We can follow Jesus and live it out in a different way that operates so much closer to the original church. A way that looks to change the world, through the love of Jesus.
There is so much to be done. Our problems are racial, environmental, economic, and exclusive. There are immigration issues, a lack of human rights, and a lack of love for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.
This is all rooted in the lie of scarcity and the belief that there is never enough to go around.
The way of life Jesus offers up is an invitation to follow him. It is an invitation to participate in the kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim. The good news is that this invitation isn't for the day we die, it’s one that stands to be accepted in the here and now. It doesn’t look anything like scarcity, and that’s why He encouraged us to pray like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,[a]
But deliver us from the evil one.
Amen
This prayer makes more sense to me today that it ever has in my life. May we pray like Jesus did, this week and beyond, and may we embrace the exciting reality that what Jesus invites us into is for everyone and all people. If we can do that, we may very well accomplish more than any president could. Let us lean into that peace.
