WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:07.200 Well, good evening. It's great to be with you all, and I bring you greetings from Church of the Resurrection on Capitol Hill. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:16.260 I feel like I've been hanging out with Advent folks all week, and I officiated the wedding yesterday morning for Allie Phillips and Matt Barnwell, for those of you that know them. 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:26.000 And it was a fantastic service, fantastic wedding. So great to be with them and great to be with you all this morning at the Brooklyn service and here tonight. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:42.079 I was thinking the last time I preached, it was part of a series at Church of the Resurrection on love, and everyone else got to preach on topics like dating and marriage. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.840 And my topic was celibacy in a church full of young single people. 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:55.820 And here I am up again, and this time preaching in Washington, D.C. on politics and Christianity and citizenship. 00:00:56.120 --> 00:00:58.680 So I don't know how this keeps happening. 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:04.400 My wife will say that, tell me that I choose this. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.680 So all I can say is it seemed like a good idea at the time. 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:13.480 Let me open us with a word of prayer. 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:21.600 Father, Father, be with us all this evening as we listen for your voice. 00:01:21.740 --> 00:01:28.380 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:29.520 Amen. 00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:37.200 So perhaps some of you saw the report that came out from the Pew Research Center earlier this year, 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:42.280 based on a survey that it had conducted, one of the largest surveys that it had ever conducted, 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:50.520 to examine the extent of our political polarization and to see just how deep it goes. 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:57.219 And one question on that survey in particular has been asked every year for several decades, 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:01.260 and it perhaps gets at it more than anything else. 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:08.740 It asks Americans whether they would be upset if their child married somebody from a different political party. 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:13.860 And when they asked this question in 1960, 00:02:15.060 --> 00:02:22.860 5% of Americans expressed a negative reaction to their child marrying somebody from a different political party. 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:29.879 By 2010, 40% said they would be upset. 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:35.899 It used to be, of course, that race or religion were the two biggest determinants when it came to marriage. 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:40.959 But, of course, over the same period of time, the percentage of interracial marriages has increased significantly, 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.019 as have interfaith marriages. 00:02:43.019 --> 00:02:48.939 So what we're seeing is really a huge shift in our social fabric. 00:02:50.019 --> 00:02:53.579 Today, politics has become far more central than faith 00:02:53.579 --> 00:02:59.579 when it comes to determining not only one's spouse, but one's broader friendships and communities. 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:06.040 Now, I think we need to affirm at the outset that one's political commitments matter 00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:11.540 and that they're connected to a much broader web of values and commitments that we have. 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:15.640 But studies, I think, such as this do raise some important questions. 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:22.540 How is it that our political identities today have become so much more decisive 00:03:22.540 --> 00:03:26.200 than any other aspect of our identities? 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:35.159 Why is it that the Christian community appears to exhibit similar degrees of antagonism and polarization 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.079 as exists in the broader culture? 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:44.239 And perhaps most fundamentally a question that I'd like for us to consider briefly here this morning, 00:03:44.459 --> 00:03:51.699 is there anything distinctive about how Christians should engage in politics? 00:03:51.699 --> 00:03:54.259 And if so, what would that look like? 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:02.379 So, because we're considering these questions in a place like Church of the Advent, 00:04:02.979 --> 00:04:04.859 I'm going to make a few assumptions. 00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:12.259 The first assumption is that politics is more than simply who you vote for. 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:20.839 Politics is a comprehensive process in which people with different views seek the common good together. 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:26.839 What this means, of course, is that since Christianity is concerned with human flourishing, 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.459 Christianity is inescapably political. 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:35.319 We heard it in our readings this evening. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:41.539 In Isaiah, we hear God's reaction to injustice being done 00:04:41.539 --> 00:04:46.479 and his call to political rulers to enact true justice. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:54.980 In Psalm 47, God is praised as the supreme king to whom current earthly political leaders should submit. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:05.160 In Mark's gospel, Jesus comes onto the scene as an heir of Israel's greatest politician, King David, 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:10.420 and he holds up an image of the most powerful political leader of the day, Caesar Augustus, 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:14.660 and subversively suggests that Caesar's days are numbered. 00:05:17.960 --> 00:05:22.120 The second assumption that I'm going to make is that the gospel that Jesus preached 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:28.420 is not a privatized, Jesus and me, get saved so I can go to heaven when I die, kind of gospel. 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:39.360 We will simply take it as assumed that the death and resurrection of Jesus signaled the inbreaking of God's reign into our world 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:45.280 and therefore that God's vision for the world should find expression today 00:05:45.280 --> 00:05:55.300 in everything from art to architecture to business to journalism and also to politics. 00:05:55.300 --> 00:06:02.100 God's kingdom is not fully here. 00:06:02.100 --> 00:06:06.120 God's kingdom is not fully here. 00:06:07.340 --> 00:06:11.560 It's broken in, but it has not yet been fully realized. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.280 Jesus has not yet returned in person to rule. 00:06:16.180 --> 00:06:22.300 And therefore God orders and affirms earthly caretaker governments 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:27.300 to enact justice that is provisional and partial. 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:31.860 Earthly governments are not Christian, nor can they be. 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:38.840 Triumphal attempts to make earthly regimes in any way directly identified with God's rule 00:06:38.840 --> 00:06:43.040 is a political mistake, and it's also a theological mistake. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:51.220 But if we acknowledge a necessary gap between God's kingdom and earthly politics, 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:56.379 then we have to ask, what should we expect of earthly governments? 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:03.259 How do we translate a kingdom vision into earthly rule? 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:09.980 Now, fully answering this question might take more than one sermon. 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:12.439 It might take more than a few sermon series. 00:07:13.219 --> 00:07:18.060 And the reality is that for those who come from evangelical backgrounds, 00:07:18.219 --> 00:07:23.959 evangelicals have an underdeveloped theology of what this should look like. 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:27.959 And it means that, therefore, we will need to draw on other traditions 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:31.399 in order to fully answer this question. 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:35.919 One way of thinking about this, however, just very briefly, 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.799 would be to draw on the work of the theologian Karl Barth, 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:45.019 who argued that we work towards governments that are analogous to God's kingdom. 00:07:46.299 --> 00:07:49.319 An analogy is where you compare two things that are different. 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:54.000 They're not the same in order to emphasize certain similarities. 00:07:56.120 --> 00:08:01.779 In this respect, then, we should work toward degrees of correspondence 00:08:01.779 --> 00:08:05.079 between earthly governments and God's kingdom. 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:09.939 So earthly governments will never be God's kingdom, 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:12.159 and we should not expect them to be. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.920 However, as a result of the church's proclamation of the gospel, 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:23.080 we believe that governments can learn what their relatively bounded role can be 00:08:23.080 --> 00:08:26.860 during this period between Christ's ascension and his return. 00:08:32.340 --> 00:08:41.440 In other words, we believe that our New Testament lesson from Philippians 2, verse 9 is true. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:48.720 Therefore, God has exalted Jesus and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 00:08:48.820 --> 00:08:53.020 so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:01.180 This means that everyone, including political rulers and political regimes, 00:09:01.180 --> 00:09:05.200 will eventually bow their knee to the Lordship of Christ. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:14.320 Now, of course, we are quick to affirm that this will be fully and completely true in the age to come, 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.940 but not just in the age to come. 00:09:18.580 --> 00:09:22.080 As with every other area of life, 00:09:22.280 --> 00:09:26.320 we believe that God's rule breaks into history now, 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.879 and that we should therefore expect to see glimpses, 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:37.580 anticipations of that future in the way that governments rule today. 00:09:38.020 --> 00:09:41.820 It's why 4th century Christians were not surprised 00:09:41.820 --> 00:09:47.640 by the eventual conversion of the Roman Empire, 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:49.320 of the Roman Emperor. 00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:52.100 They weren't surprised by his conversion. 00:09:52.260 --> 00:09:53.960 In fact, they were so confident in the gospel, 00:09:54.260 --> 00:09:55.040 they expected it. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:03.960 But this means that Christians engage in politics aware of a deep tension, 00:10:04.340 --> 00:10:07.320 a tension that is constant and inescapable. 00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:11.360 We put our best efforts towards creating the political conditions 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.700 that lead to human flourishing in everything from human trafficking to poverty to the family, 00:10:18.780 --> 00:10:23.020 even as we remember the complexities of the issues, 00:10:23.400 --> 00:10:25.140 the limitations of our perceptions, 00:10:25.139 --> 00:10:28.139 and that even the best political achievements 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:33.059 are highly fragile and provisional until Christ returns. 00:10:33.059 --> 00:10:41.079 So, in light of these tensions, 00:10:41.079 --> 00:10:43.879 how might Christians move forward, 00:10:44.699 --> 00:10:49.199 seeking to translate God's kingdom into the messiness of earthly politics? 00:10:49.959 --> 00:10:52.519 And I want to briefly suggest three things. 00:10:52.519 --> 00:11:00.439 First, I want to suggest that we start by simply allowing the liturgy that we practice here, 00:11:00.439 --> 00:11:01.579 every Sunday, 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:05.340 to shape and inform us politically. 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:13.060 And the reason we must allow the liturgy of the church to shape us politically is because, 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:13.820 if we don't, 00:11:14.060 --> 00:11:16.080 the liturgy of the state will. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:27.700 It's important to remember that nation states always use liturgy to build cohesion and to shape the desires of its citizens, 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:29.060 and the United States is no different. 00:11:29.059 --> 00:11:35.579 We have liturgies that begin shaping citizens from a very young age. 00:11:35.579 --> 00:11:40.919 We take young children and we have them start the school day with an exercise in formation, 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:45.219 by putting their hands over their hearts and pledging allegiance to America, 00:11:45.419 --> 00:11:46.719 as represented by the flag. 00:11:48.699 --> 00:11:53.559 Anytime we get large groups of people together for sporting events in stadiums, 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:57.339 we start liturgically by singing about America. 00:11:58.859 --> 00:12:01.959 I remember I had a friend of mine visiting from England. 00:12:02.859 --> 00:12:04.319 I took him to a nationals game, 00:12:04.379 --> 00:12:05.199 and at the beginning of the game, 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:07.319 we stood up to sing the national anthem. 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:07.799 And he said, 00:12:08.699 --> 00:12:09.379 he said, 00:12:09.459 --> 00:12:10.899 are we going to do this right now? 00:12:11.959 --> 00:12:12.599 I said, 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:13.919 yeah, 00:12:13.979 --> 00:12:14.439 absolutely. 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:15.439 He said, 00:12:15.479 --> 00:12:18.019 this isn't just reserved for special events like the Olympics. 00:12:18.979 --> 00:12:19.559 I said, 00:12:19.599 --> 00:12:19.759 no, 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:23.019 this happens before pretty much every game in every stadium. 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:24.099 in America. 00:12:25.339 --> 00:12:25.739 And, 00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:26.079 uh, 00:12:26.739 --> 00:12:27.519 he said, 00:12:27.719 --> 00:12:29.439 you Americans are so hardcore. 00:12:32.099 --> 00:12:33.219 Every spring, 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:37.279 our city is flooded with yellow school buses, 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:43.839 out of which poor eighth graders from across the country who have been brought on a pilgrimage 00:12:43.839 --> 00:12:45.859 to the nation's capital. 00:12:47.219 --> 00:12:51.059 They will gaze at saint-like statues of the founding fathers. 00:12:51.059 --> 00:12:57.419 They will hear stories about the agreements that occurred like miracles at the Constitutional Convention. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.339 They will climb the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:04.759 a structure that was intentionally designed to look and feel like a temple. 00:13:05.059 --> 00:13:13.259 And they will gaze in silent contemplation at our martyred president and read his words engraved on the stone walls. 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:16.559 Now, 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:21.960 understand that my intent here is not to make a critique, 00:13:22.259 --> 00:13:27.879 but simply to highlight that politics and liturgy always go together. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:37.799 A political vision always relies on liturgies to shape people's desires, 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:43.000 ultimately hoping that people will love something enough to die for it. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:50.220 But if it's sometimes easy to miss the liturgy that's embedded in the state's politics, 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:57.759 it's also sometimes easy to miss the politics that are embedded in the church's liturgy. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:04.759 So let's think about what happens here each Sunday when you come to church. 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:05.740 First of all, 00:14:05.819 --> 00:14:08.480 you have to get dressed. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:10.460 Either it's in the morning, 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:11.539 you have to get out of bed, 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.620 or you have to stop whatever you're doing in the afternoon to come to church 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:18.220 in order to worship. 00:14:19.019 --> 00:14:19.319 So, 00:14:19.539 --> 00:14:20.659 well done. 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:21.059 Now, 00:14:21.059 --> 00:14:23.659 why do we do this? 00:14:24.079 --> 00:14:27.179 Why don't we just stay at home and listen to podcasts of sermons? 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:34.199 Or watch services streaming over the internet in the comfort of our pajamas? 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:41.259 Perhaps we should ask that of the people who come here to Washington, D.C. 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:44.720 to gather on the National Mall for political rallies. 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:47.799 Why do they make all that effort? 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:53.859 Why don't they just stay at home and post things on Facebook? 00:14:57.599 --> 00:15:01.699 Because gathering together makes a public statement. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.279 It is a form of communal witness. 00:15:06.079 --> 00:15:07.639 And so with church, 00:15:08.019 --> 00:15:12.199 simply showing up to gather with other Christians is a form of communal witness. 00:15:12.199 --> 00:15:16.979 We even opened up this evening with our own political pledge. 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:20.419 What's the acclamation that we start with every Sunday? 00:15:20.839 --> 00:15:23.000 The celebrant comes up and begins by saying, 00:15:23.359 --> 00:15:24.000 Blessed be God, 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:24.419 the Father, 00:15:24.659 --> 00:15:24.899 Son, 00:15:25.019 --> 00:15:25.879 and Holy Spirit. 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:27.179 And what do the people say? 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:31.120 And blessed be his kingdom. 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:33.199 Now and forever. 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:44.019 We are here this evening to bless and affirm and center ourselves on God's kingdom. 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:49.779 Or consider our liturgy later in the service, 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.539 when we come to the table each Sunday for the Eucharist. 00:15:54.819 --> 00:16:01.439 There we enact and experience a common meal that is very different from the meals that occur in our daily life out in the world. 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:03.899 Out in the world, 00:16:04.079 --> 00:16:05.980 some people go to expensive restaurants, 00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:08.720 other people go to inexpensive restaurants, 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:13.560 and others cannot afford to go to restaurants at all. 00:16:14.560 --> 00:16:15.720 In general, 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:22.840 these groups do not share table fellowship together with each other over a meal. 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:26.060 But every Sunday, 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:31.200 Christians come to a table at which Jesus is the host, 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:39.640 which we are reminded is a foretaste of the meals that we will enjoy together in the age to come. 00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:41.920 And as we come up, 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:44.600 regardless of class, 00:16:45.020 --> 00:16:45.800 or background, 00:16:46.100 --> 00:16:46.740 or race, 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:47.780 or income, 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:52.759 we stand or kneel in exactly the same posture together, 00:16:52.900 --> 00:16:56.640 bringing nothing apart from outstretched hands to receive. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.779 And we might ask, 00:17:02.299 --> 00:17:05.000 what are the political, 00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:06.680 or social, 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.379 or economic implications of communion? 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.819 And if we want the world to at least partially reflect the goodness of God's kingdom, 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:24.240 how might we extend what is happening at communion to our neighborhoods? 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:26.319 Or to our city? 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:34.500 Making these kinds of connections will require creativity and wisdom and prudence. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:39.680 We may find that certain Christian concerns don't have any obvious political traction. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:47.360 We may find that perspectives that emerge do not always line up neatly with party politics as they are currently conceived. 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:50.759 We may often find that there's not simply one answer. 00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:55.380 But because it is not easy, 00:17:55.380 --> 00:17:56.500 then 00:17:56.500 --> 00:18:01.100 while we need to start by being shaped by the church's liturgy, 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:03.120 we need to go even further. 00:18:04.060 --> 00:18:04.700 And thus, 00:18:04.760 --> 00:18:06.520 the second suggestion I would make is that 00:18:06.520 --> 00:18:08.400 as people who are being formed 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.340 in the narrative of God's kingdom, 00:18:10.340 --> 00:18:15.900 we also seek to talk about these things with other Christians, 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:16.680 including, 00:18:17.060 --> 00:18:18.160 and even especially, 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:21.480 those with whom we disagree politically. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.080 Now, 00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:25.820 it can be dangerous in a city like this, 00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:26.220 I realize. 00:18:26.300 --> 00:18:31.600 We may have to find some catacombs somewhere where we can hold those discussions with impunity. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:39.439 But we need to have our thinking shaped by the broader community of Christians. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:42.759 And because this can be difficult, 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:46.360 we'll need to proceed with great care and love and humility. 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:51.000 We'll need to learn to communicate our views with gentleness and be open to being wrong. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:55.299 But the world is actually looking for models of how to do this. 00:18:56.139 --> 00:19:01.359 Our shared commitment to Jesus Christ means that Christians ought to be able to have 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:05.879 better conversations about politics and justice than the rest of the world. 00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:11.940 And the final consideration is this. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:20.080 We should seek to ground our broader political reflections on local hands-on involvement. 00:19:21.260 --> 00:19:25.240 The church should always seek to be incarnational in its witness. 00:19:26.620 --> 00:19:28.540 It changes a debate, 00:19:28.760 --> 00:19:29.940 and it changes us, 00:19:30.620 --> 00:19:35.500 if we are discussing immigration in the context of knowing and caring for immigrants. 00:19:36.580 --> 00:19:40.620 It changes our debates about poverty and how to make things better 00:19:40.620 --> 00:19:44.420 if we are relationally engaged with those who are economically disadvantaged. 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:53.780 A few years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine in Georgia. 00:19:54.860 --> 00:20:00.860 And he was telling me about his church and about the after-school tutoring program that his church had started. 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:04.800 He told me that his was a politically conservative congregation, 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:10.139 and most people had very defined views about things like immigration and undocumented workers. 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.480 But they started an after-school tutoring program, he said, 00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:20.019 in part to help low-income kids in their neighborhood with their schoolwork. 00:20:20.019 --> 00:20:22.720 He said, 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.500 to their complete surprise, 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:28.359 the after-school tutoring program grew like crazy. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:31.839 And before too long, it was filled with hundreds of kids. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.039 And it became this major ministry of their church. 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.220 Most of the kids lived nearby, 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:42.259 and as the members of the congregation started working with these kids, 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:43.639 they got to know their families. 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:47.980 And they began to love these kids and their families, 00:20:48.139 --> 00:20:50.740 and some of the families started coming to church. 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:56.680 The complicating factor, however, 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:01.180 was that most of these kids were Hispanic or Latino, 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:04.160 and many of them were almost certainly undocumented. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.000 And my friend told me, 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:11.259 we don't know what to do. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:17.120 Most of us believe certain things about immigration, 00:21:17.120 --> 00:21:22.940 and we also love these kids and their families. 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:25.140 And he said, 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:28.720 our church is having conversations about justice in politics 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:30.019 that we never had before. 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:34.380 Now, 00:21:34.580 --> 00:21:37.559 I think it is safe to say that the members of this church 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.019 have not suddenly ditched their political views, 00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:42.279 nor should they have. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.920 And it's safe to say that the very real and legitimate questions 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:52.000 around immigration did not suddenly become any less complicated. 00:21:52.940 --> 00:21:57.180 But let me ask you this. 00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:59.620 Where else in America 00:21:59.620 --> 00:22:02.200 can you find conservative, 00:22:02.360 --> 00:22:03.279 wall-building, 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:05.440 red-state Christians 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.200 worshipping side-by-side 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:10.519 with undocumented immigrants, 00:22:10.779 --> 00:22:11.960 caring for their kids, 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:13.840 helping them graduate from high school 00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:14.960 so they can go to college, 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:17.400 and struggling mightily 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:20.640 to work out the politics of that? 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:27.080 That only happens in the church. 00:22:31.080 --> 00:22:31.840 If, 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:33.940 as it is sometimes noted, 00:22:34.080 --> 00:22:37.500 that states are the laboratories for federal politics, 00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:38.720 the church 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.580 is the laboratory 00:22:40.580 --> 00:22:43.380 for God's political vision. 00:22:43.380 --> 00:22:47.180 The church 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:48.520 is God's agent 00:22:48.520 --> 00:22:49.400 for change. 00:22:51.100 --> 00:22:52.280 The church 00:22:52.280 --> 00:22:53.240 is the place 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:55.120 where we strive 00:22:55.120 --> 00:22:56.020 to embody 00:22:56.020 --> 00:22:57.520 what we hope the world 00:22:57.520 --> 00:22:58.360 will one day be. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:01.420 And if we 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:03.440 commit ourselves to that, 00:23:04.120 --> 00:23:05.140 then Christians 00:23:05.140 --> 00:23:06.880 just might have something 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.420 distinctive to contribute 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:09.500 as citizens. 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:12.900 Amen. 00:23:12.900 --> 00:23:13.019 Amen.