Yet Paul was no despiser of this world and
even its governments. In Romans 13 he
speaks of the very people who would conflict with him politically: “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities… Pay to all what is due, taxes, revenue, respect to whom respect is
due, honor to whom honor is due.”
When I was in junior high and high school,
we took classes on “Citizenship,” and were even graded on “citizenship.” We learned about local and national
government, but also with a sense that a “citizen” was who you should be –
somebody involved, in working for the public good, in forums, in town hall
gatherings, in volunteering. A citizen
doesn’t carp from the sidelines. A
citizen gets engaged – and God calls us to be citizens, not only of heaven, but
on earth.
Parker Palmer defines
citizenship as “a way of being in the world rooted in the knowledge that I am a
member of a vast community that I depend on for essentials I could never
provide for myself.” For Palmer, citizenship
is not a burden, but something to be grateful for – and thus our life is about “trying to be responsive to its needs whether or not my
immediate self-interests are met.
Whatever is in the common good is, in the long run, good for me and
mine.”
In our day, in an un-Christian way, citizenship gets replaced by consumerism. Or, citizenship
gets perverted into complaining - or griping. As complainers who sit in our living rooms,
do nothing, but grouse about what’s wrong out there, we become what Palmer
called “barbarians at democracy’s gate.”
And more sadly, as Palmer explains, “we drive from the public square
citizens who can’t bear this life of political combat.” Wow.
Have you, or I, caused anybody to back away from getting engaged in
community life because of our passionate but angry mood about a candidate or an
issue?
If you are looking for a prescription for
citizenship in the Bible, look no further than Jeremiah 29: God says “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into
exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find
your welfare.” This is biblical, this is
American, this is God’s desire for us – to be citizens, to get out of the
living room and get involved, to make a difference, to pursue the welfare of
the community where we find ourselves.
When the Christian engages in citizenship,
we need to think clearly about those thorny, terribly misunderstood issues – the
relation of politics and religion, and the separation of church and state, to
which we’ll turn next week.
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