The post-election church of Christ

Avoiding politics amounts to mission failure for the church of Christ in the United States.

We (organized Christians) don’t really avoid politics. One segment of the Christian church aligns itself with one political faction. One segment aligns itself with another. One segment avoids politics altogether. All of them are passive aggressive about it because they: a) Don’t want to run afoul of the Internal Revenue Service, and b) Don’t want to run afoul of the people who put money in the collection plates each Sunday.

I’m tired of this passive aggression and not because I wish the church would pick a side. In fact, nothing could be more out of line with the church’s very reason for existence than to take a side in politics.

And what is that reason for existence that defines and drives the church of Christ? It is the very thing our country needs from us now. It is the very thing I’m afraid our country is not getting from us.

Consider these ancient words from the Christian scriptures:

“From now on, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5.16-21.

“For [Christ] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and you who were near; for through him both of us have access in One Spirit to the Father.” Ephesians 2.14-18.

How accurately do these words describe the church of Christ in America at this time? If you asked anyone in America to describe the Christian church in our society, would anyone say “they are a force for reconciliation” or “those are the people who are bringing us together”?

And yet reconciliation is our commission and our purpose from the beginning.

These ancient texts from the founding of the church of Christ make it clear: We are put on this earth, not to pick a side, but to put divisions aside. Our commission is not to go to battle, but to be ambassadors who make peace.

When we avoid political conflict in this country, we avoid the very reason for our existence in this world: To make peace through the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus Christ himself said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5.9).

This is as practical a mission as the church can get. While the nation votes on November 8, leaders of the church need to gather and ask: “What will we do (practice) to reconcile the people of our community to one another starting November 9?”

Our witness to the truth and validity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not rest on where we stand on “the issues”; it rests on how effectively we bridge those issues and bring together people on opposite sides of them. What could be a more powerful–yea, miraculous–testimony than making peace and reconciliation in the current political climate?

That is why it would be a sin, yes sin, for leaders of the church to shrug their shoulders on November 9 and say: “Well, we’re glad that’s over with!” An attitude like that is nothing short of dereliction of Christian duty.

The church of Christ has a job to do in our society and that job has never been more important. Will we be ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation? Will we be peacemakers? Or will we continue to pick sides or sit out altogether?

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”