I try to live close to my home in body, mind, and heart. I read our local newspaper, buy as much as I can in the historic downtown neighborhood of my small city, and spend a good portion of my time in passionate, respectful conversation about the common good with our mayor over drinks at the bar across the street from my apartment.
And yet I’m also aware that I’m part of a larger political context with global implications. Lately, the reminders have been coming from friends north of the border who are justifiably concerned by what they’re hearing about U.S. politics, particularly the astonishing things that come out of Donald Trump’s mouth, while he takes victory after victory in the primaries. Our friend Henry Bakker, the essay editor for Topology and a farmer in Ontario, sent over this perspective from John Pavlovitz, a pastor in North Carolina, who wonders whether he’s a Christian after all:
I’ve always thought that caring for the poor and sharing my blessings and walking humbly and showing mercy and seeking peace were all inherent in my calling as a Christian, yet from what I can see I really dropped the ball somewhere along the way, because these are certainly not on trend in the Church I’m seeing on the news and in Christian Universities and out on the campaign trail. I seem to remember the Jesus of the Gospels shunning status and opulence, casting aside power and privilege, bending to serve and feed and heal, but that can’t possibly be right given the headlines.
You can read John’s entire post, “Maybe I’m Actually Not a Christian After All,” on his blog.
Photo by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0).
