Can't wait til Wednesday

I voted earlier today, and now that I have, I can't wait until tomorrow because then this will all be over. In the elections of 2000 and 2004 I was glued to network and cable television burning hours in front of the tube and anxiously awaiting the results as intense as when I follow my fantasy football team online on Sundays! But tonight, I doubt I will watch little if any television, preferring to find out the result tomorrow and then getting on with life. Part of what has made this election season so disappointing for me, other than the lack of a good candidate, is what it has revealed in those of us who claim to follow Jesus, both those Christians on the right and the left. I've gotten many emails, forwards, and casual conversations from those on the right who are downright scared of the opposite party's candidate. Their fear leads them to make questionable (and even absurd) claims based on rumor rather than fact (Obama is a Muslim or Obama is the anti-christ) and leaves them searching the scriptures for obscure connections between the Bible's book of Revelation and this election (seriously, just got an email this afternoon). Fearing an Obama presidency, some of these folks make dark predictions such as the loss of religious freedom, more incidences of abortion, more legislative judges, and an overall loss of the judeo-christian morals that they believe the country was founded upon.

The pundits and the blogs for the Christian left, though, also leave me discouraged because their fervor and passion is essentially the same as the right's, though it is the same fervor and passion they dislike about the Christian right. While in 2000 and 2004 one could argue that Bush was the evangelical choice, in 2008 one could argue that Obama is now the evangelical choice, at least among younger evangelicals. One can get the sense that an Obama presidency will save our country from its current downward through seemingly inconsistent policies such as slashing taxes for middle and lower income brackets while also increasing government spending with new programs such increased health care.

Few would argue that our country, and our world, has serious issues and problems that need addressing- too many to indicate in a post- economic issues, ecological issues, social issues, justice issues, human rights issues. I think as Christians we're misguided if we believe that a candidate or a party is going to usher in God's kingdom or speed up God's will. If we were to practice some of what Jesus left for us in the New Testament, might we (and not a party or a government) have greater control or influence when it came to these issues that are so important to us? What if all of us who followed Christ . . .

• tithed? At a church the size of Hillcrest's, we'd almost double our budget. Being free of debt, we'd have more to give away to orphans and widows, to those that needed it. And when you multiply that across all churches, now you're talking about funds that could do some serious damage (health care? homelessness? poverty? these issues would be within reach with the tithes of the saints).
• volunteered outside of our churches? Imagine the church helping trouble schools improve their reading and math scores. Imagine the church providing mentors for children who have no other steady adult influences in their lives. Imagine the church providing job training, financial training, and parental training out of a relationship with people.

Well, that's enough for now. Hopefully, you voted. And hopefully, if we follow Jesus, we will continue to seek his kingdom first, regardless of who runs our governmental kingdoms.