I watched the Obama victory speech and I was struck by the images. I do not want to ignore the obvious historical implications of this nation electing an African-American as president. As I looked at the people, they watched him with such hope in their eyes. I was watching their faces as he spoke and they nodded in agreement at his points and that is when it hit me. It looked like a church gathering when you are listening to a good preacher proclaiming the gospel. The nodded yeses were the "amens" of a congregation of faith. And that is what that crowd was last night: a congregation of faith. Their leader (our leader now) is proclaiming a vision of hope for the future the same way a gospel preacher proclaims a vision of hope for the faithful who are seeking to be about bringing the kingdom of God. Here is where the two images diverge. The people last night were putting their hopes in a human being who is seeking to bring about a prosperous nation with political ideologies. Hopefully the Christians rely on a greater power to allow them to accomplish the agenda of our heavenly king, Jesus.
As I watched, I was reminded of how futile trusting in humans and their agendas are. Every four (or two) years, the party that is not in power claims that they have all of the answers for real change. This year, there will be change yes (the mere election results alone are change), but until politicians can teach us how to deal with evil in the hearts of human beings, there will never be any real lasting change. It inspired me, more than ever, to prompt my church, my family, my tribe to be about affecting the only real change that can come about by proclaiming the gospel message of Jesus and praying (and working toward) God's kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Please hear me, this post is not anti-Obama, but it does contain my realistic view that the agendas of humans will never affect the real change that the agenda of Christ can accomplish, and that can't be done without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Check out Mark Driscoll's blog post yesterday that also contains some words of wisdom during this era of "change."
See also my post on the futility of "evolutionary optimism" with a quote from NT Wright.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
" It inspired me, more than ever, to prompt my church, my family, my tribe to be about affecting the only real change that can come about by proclaiming the gospel message of Jesus and praying (and working toward) God's kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven."
Well said!
Post a Comment