White Noise

If we, as Christians, stay stuck in the binary “white noise” of the left/right, liberal/conservative continuum we will never move beyond where we are now, as the Church or as a country.  I believe that everything that clamors for our attention in the headlines these days has abiding implications for the church. Christians are, above anything else, “citizens of Heaven” (Philippians 3:20), belonging to a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), not composed of the mighty or noble but of “the lowly and despised” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29). The church is called to self-governance to display “the manifold wisdom of God... to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10–11), not participate with government for achieving our ends and objectives. Jesus did not align himself with the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Herodian’s or any other political party. Just as the early church rejected oaths and imperial allegiance, so today’s church (and it’s members) must refuse to entrust its identity or mission to governments or parties, “come out of the world,” and return to its core mission of bearing witness to the alternative Way of Jesus.