A thrilling moment from my childhood that has
stuck with me ever since happened on January 20, 1961. Newly inaugurated President John Kennedy’s
words rang out: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Fast forward to 2016: it would be hard to
recall any politician saying anything remotely kin to this in recent
memory. All political appeals are to
self-interest. If a candidate dared
inform voters he would be asking them to sacrifice anything at all, he would be
roundly defeated.
Our
Founding Fathers dreamed of a very different America, one in which the people
were of such character that they would endeavor to be part of doing whatever
was required for the public good. This
vision resonates naturally with Christianity, which never begins with me, me,
me, but is always about God, about my place in the larger church, about what we
can do for others. Sacrifice is our
wheelhouse – and for our country to change and become better, this ability to
sacrifice for the common good will be required.
If the premise of American political life is nothing more than What’s in
it for me? then we will be forever mired in anger and resentment, and our
emaciated national soul will barely linger on, lacking the strength our
Founding Fathers anticipated we would need.
We
may pity politicians, observing how desperate they are to pander to whatever
they think will make me believe I’ll get what I want. As Christians, do we really want our leaders
to do what indulges me but leaves others disappointed?
Self-interest also has this underbelly:
increasingly we see candidates who urge us to feel sorry for ourselves,
to feel things are unfair, to believe we are victims. This is nothing more than self-interest, but
darkly passive. No wonder voters are
drawn to negative blamers.
Mind
you, there can always be unfairness. But
the prevalent mood that’s been created in America is self-pity, blame, a sense
of entitlement that’s being infringed upon, and we all feel like victims of
something or another. “Ask not what your
country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” is
empowering. Instead of self-pity we seek
positive engagement. Instead of blame,
we take responsibility.
Christianity
is the antithesis of blame and self-pity.
We engage, we are inspired and energized to the great cause of improving
God’s world. We know how to sacrifice
for the common good. Jesus taught us to
love our neighbor as ourselves. He
didn’t blame the Romans for his troubles.
Jesus
didn’t pray, God, what will you do for
me? but instead prayed Not my will
but your will be done. He gave his
life for others, for us – and invited each one of us into a life of being part
of his Body, not a private beneficiary of blessing, but one member among many
seeking the dawning of God’s good kingdom.
Could this be Christianity’s great gift to American society – a shunning
of self-interest, and a recovery of joyful sacrifice for the greater good?
** FYI, earlier installments of this series are archived here. To subscribe, email me.
** FYI, earlier installments of this series are archived here. To subscribe, email me.
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