A Brief Alphabet of Christianity and Politics (2)

 Baptismal – Christianity’s relation to politics is thoroughly baptismal. Soaked in the waters from the font Christian faith comes to the world, including the political world, with one question only, pointed as it is. That question is: does Jesus have any interest, any interest at all, in making a difference in your life and mine? If he does, then Christianity’s relation to the political is working to make a difference there for well-being of those affected by the system. We strive to become influencers and change agents above all else (relative to our particular theological traditions). But we all want to effect change in our world. But what if Jesus is not interested in making a difference in our lives? What then? Do we stop trying to make a difference and all our political activity as did some of our forebears who wanted to save souls from the world as it went from bad to worse? No, God forbid! There’s another answer to our question that takes us in the right, that is, the baptismal direction. And that answer is “no, Jesus is not interested in making a difference in our lives. Rather, he’s committed to giving us a different life.” A different life. And as his people, baptized in his name, deriving our identity and vocation from our baptism, we are called to be a different people, bearing witness to a different world, a new world, that has dawned in Jesus and will be fulfilled when he returns. Yes, we do what we can to ameliorate and improve people’s lives, though we regularly underestimate the difficulty of the task and overestimate our ability to do that. According to James Davison Hunter to change the world entails complex networks of elite persons in strategic places with abundant resources. And yet God did not become such a mover and shaker in Jesus nor does he call many such to be a part of his kingdom movement. So maybe God isn’t about us primarily fixing this world as best we can. Perhaps it’s our being the different people living out our baptismal vocations as members of the different world he has birthed in Jesus that is the best thing we can do for our world. Not the only thing, as I mentioned above, but the thing that witnesses to humanity’s true hope, genuine life, and salvation. The thing the world most needs from us and cannot get from anywhere else. The politics of this new people bearing witness to a different world is the task and calling of Jesus’ baptized followers.