Bled State
by Kevin Smith Clark
In late 2000, my mentor, Dr. John Castelein, wrote the following: "In the 2000 presidential election, truth is not non-partisan." It took me eight years to fully appreciate this line. Living in a battle-ground state has been nothing short of exhausting. I'm sure you all remember Ohio's role in 2004. Shortly thereafter came Coingate involving a trail of Republicans that led to Columbus (for more info, google "coingate" or "Tom Noe"...that should do it). But, in this state, the truth is anything but objective. I can't tell you how many ads I see on a daily basis..."John McCain is more of the same"..."Obama wants to tax you more"..."McCain wants to sodomize your mother while pouring sugar in your gas tank"..."Obama is a closet terrorist"..."McCain will ship your job to Mexico"..."Obama will drive your job to Mexico". Somewhere in all of this is the truth. And, literally, only God Himself knows it. It's extremely difficult in my hometown where the most important issues are (in no order): stance on abortion, stance on gay marriage, stance on prayer in school. And there's not much audience for dialogue (let me be crystal clear on this: I'm against the first two and think the third is irrelevant).
We are approximately 60 days from Bipolar National Showdown III, and I'm sick of the smack-talk, endorsed and unendorsed commercials, "eight is enough", "raisin' McCain", Sarah Palin (yes, she does look look like Tina Fey and yes, I hope they totally lampoon her on 30 Rock this year), Joe Biden's bad hair (we know you have plugs...i remember your hair during Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill), and ANWAR. I think I'm sick of the Kingdom of America. I'm returning to the Kingdom of God.
That's what living in a Bl-ed State feels like: a large family of manic depressives who forgot to take their crazy pills...because John McCain won't provide them for free.
Brueggemann’s Response to “Election 2024”
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4 comments:
Kevin, please write more. I dig it. - Demo
how is the fierce partisanship effecting the life of your church? are politics regularly discussed at gatherings? are you afraid to put your obama/biden sticker on the car? are pitifully neglected security moms dressing up as pitbulls for halloween?
of course i jest, but i am interested in the way politics infiltrates the evangelical churches of the heartland.
My cousin from the Midwest told my dad this week that one (the "one" being myself) could not vote Democrat and call himself a Christian.
Landis hit it on the head. We can't get to a point where there can be a "Paul-Barnabus" split...where we can agree to disagree, and still achieve unity in Christ. Shane Claiborne has ruined it for me. I'm no longer interested in what Obama or McCain says. I'm interested in what Jesus says...about loving enemies, about the extra mile.
We've made church too much like the state. And I don't want to be like the state...how can we be set apart if we're no different? On Landis' behalf, I respond, how can you truly, truly, read the scriptures, and call yourself a Christ-follower, and be elephant or donkey? Can we form a third party? Kingdomite? Christican?
KSC
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