On January 16, 2013, President Obama held a news conference announcing actions he was taking (via executive orders) and that he was urging Congress to pass laws directly tied to the issue of gun control in response to the series of abominable acts taken against citizens of our country in the public square. In that address, the president issued an invitation (perhaps, better said, it was a call to action) to pastors to speak up for what is right. Undoubtedly, what he meant by "what is right" must be interpreted as "what I am saying is right." As I understand his invitation, it was not meant to be applied to me as a private citizen, but rather as a leader of spiritual communities that make up a significant piece of the fabric of our country. In other words, he wasn't asking me to be a vocal citizen. Rather, he wants me to take up his banner and fly it in the name of spiritual truth.
Inherent in his words, if they can be taken at face value, is his recognition that there is such a thing as spiritual truth and that there are individuals outside of the political sphere of life who carry a measure of referred authority as representatives of that realm. As one who has been divinely called and who holds the office of pastor in a local spiritual community, I am answering the President's call. This posting is given, then, not as a private citizen but as a pastor, duly acknowledged by the President as having valuable input in the service of "what is right."
Consequently, I offer this clarification. This posting is in no way to be taken as a political statement. I will not offer my opinion on gun control. It is, instead, offered from my calling as a pastor; it is prophetic. Sometimes it is difficult to draw a sharp distinction between "political" and "prophetic." That's because they overlap. By definition, the prophetic voice has one foot in the public square and one in the spiritual community. God is intimately involved in and concerned with the public square. But the origin of the pastor's prophetic voice is not politically-birthed; it is birthed in the heart of God. A cursory look at the prophets of the Old Testament - especially the minor prophets - reveals to us that God cares about how we conduct ourselves in the private and public spheres of our lives. When He deems appropriate, He sees to it that His voice is heard through those individuals He has ordained as spokespersons. So, I accept the president's invitation to weigh in on "what is right," but I reject any suggestion that I do so as an extension of his agenda, party, or voice.
With that in mind, this is what I believe is "right" and that with which the spiritual communities of America must grapple. It is hypocritical for us (whether as private citizens or publicly elected officials) to dangle competing ideals before others and claim that both are true, equal, and mutually compatible. I speak of the smokescreen of taking action (not limited to the current issue) for the good and safety of our children while simultaneously insuring that the murder of unborn children through medical means continues unabated. Prophetically speaking, God holds us accountable for this (I know that many Christians prefer to verbalize, "God will hold us accountable." I would argue that a studied examination of American life these days reveals judgment already taking place.) Somehow, I don't suspect that this was what President Obama had in mind when he asked us, as pastors, to speak up. As pastors, can we stand for one side when it comes to the issue of the value of human life and its sanctity and not stand for the same thing when it comes to the unborn? Logically, spiritually, and prophetically, the answer is "no!" Yet, that seems to be what we're being asked to do here. If the issue is about the safety of our children or the citizens of our country, the whole issue must be on the table. This is not about gun control. It is about the value of human life. It just so happens that God has quite a bit to say about life, and about the right treatment of children and the underprivileged of our society. On that topic, I am with our president: "Let's be right!"
But, we need to determine and settle on what is "right." Prophetically speaking, "right" involves holding God in the proper esteem and place in our lives, both private and public. We only get it right when we take His counsel on the subject. People matter to God. They should matter to us, then. Prophetically speaking, "right" means loving people and handling them as He does.
But we, as a nation, have been "wrong" in that we seem to want to relegate God to the history books and to the margins (or basements, in many cases) of our national identity. We don't seem to care about His claims of authority. So, we find ourselves scrambling to make sense of atrocities committed on our streets, in our schools, and other arenas within the public sphere of life. But what can you expect when we devalue life at the base level? And, when expedient to our cause, we rush to enact measures that say more about our spiritual condition than about what is "right." The fact that these atrocities are repeated with alarming frequency should be a clarion call for deep theological thinking and spiritual reflection by our governing authorities. Clearly, there are no simplistic answers that suffice. But there are spiritually-focused ones that do. Maybe we should let the atrocities of Newtown, Aurora, and the too-many-other places of mass murder drive us to real answers. Prophetically speaking, only God can fix this.
And so, I offer this direct appeal to our president. "Mr. President, while I respect the office that you hold and the authority that comes with it, I am concerned that you have played a card that seems to reveal your ignorance, at best, or your hypocrisy, at worst. Either you don't understand the role of a pastor, or you thought the appeal you issued would be advantageous to your political posturing. My personal feelings regarding the gun control debate are strong, but are not part of this posting. You ask me, as a pastor, to take up your banner of the moment. Yet I see no attempt by the government of the USA to lead us to be 'right' where we most need it. Until we address the fundamental failure of our country, we can expect nothing less than the disintegration of society."
Prophetically, in the tradition of Jeremiah, Amos, and Jesus himself, standing up for what is "right" is dangerous ground. But living in the wrong is fatal to the national interest. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
