Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Jeremiah 8:18-22
First Preached: First Congregational Church of Saugatuck
This sermon is dedicated to our new national pastime. No, I don’t mean baseball. I don’t even mean football. I mean bashing politicians. It’s taking the nation by storm. During my research, I spent some time with the source of all truth and knowledge, the internet.
According to sites I read this week, President Obama is a Muslim socialist, fascist, communist Kenyan double agent. According to them, his ultimate goal is nothing less than the complete destruction of America and the imposition of Sharia law on the shattered remnants of the population. And lest the Democrats get too proud of themselves, I also read articles during the election that President Bush had teamed up with Osama Bin Laden to stage 9/11 in order to have a pretext for war and martial law in America. According to them, George W. Bush was planning to be the head of a new American military dictatorship. The election would never be allowed to stand.
It seems to me that this political back-biting is reaching a new low. The Illinois State Register, from our president’s home state, labeled this politician “the craftiest and most dishonest that ever disgraced an office in America.” They accused him of changing the rationale for ’his’ war, then hounded him for mismanaging it. They charged his administration with incompetence and accused him of trampling on the Constitution. They even compared him to an ape. Of course, the president in question is Abraham Lincoln.
This is not a new game. As long as we have had politicians, we have slammed them, especially the ones who aren’t from our team. Paul was writing to Christians who lived under the boot of the Roman Empire. Every good Roman prayed to the Emperor, with only one exception. The Jews had bought the privilege, bought it with blood, the exclusive privilege of praying for the Emperor instead of to him. Now these Christians come along and say they’re not Jews. Shouldn’t they have to pray to the emperor too?
Paul is trying to head off a political firestorm when he tells Timothy, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions,” No one wants to live in occupied territory, but Paul says, “Don’t start a revolution. Start praying.” Why? “So that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” According to Paul, government is not the instrument of the world’s salvation, that’s God’s job. Government exists to keep chaos at bay.
If that’s true, then a lot of what we call government is really politicians overstepping their bounds because the church has not yet become the kingdom of God. If we were caring for the widows, the fatherless, and the strangers in our midst… If there really were no needy among us, then who would need social security? If we really were peacemakers, who would need an army?
But we’re not there yet, so our leaders do their best to hold the chaos at bay. If that’s true, then government can fail through two fundamental errors: a weak defense and internal corruption. This is where our political leaders most need our prayers. It is soooo much easier to attack than to defend. It’s tactically simpler and psychologically easier to attack. It is sooo much easier to accept corruption than to fight against it. It’s so hard to stay clean when so many people are trying to turn you into a very rich pawn. Our leaders need our prayers, even when our hearts are breaking, even when we’re terrified and it looks like the end of our country.
Remember Jeremiah? “O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!” Jeremiah’s country is being dismantled around him. His people are walking into exile. He can see it coming and he tries to warn them but no one will listen, so he prays. He prays to God and he prays for his leaders.
He’s not the only one who’s afraid. You know what Al Qaeda and the KKK have in common? Fear. They feel like their world is under attack an they feel powerless to stop it. And they’re right. The way of life they long for is gone, and it will never return. So they lash out with the only tool they have, fear.
Perfect love drives out fear. It’s surprisingly hard to pray for someone and then in the next breath demonize them. It is surpisingly hard to pray for someone and then give up all hope. Praying for people in positions of power protects our hearts from the poisons of cynicism and despair. If that’s all it did, it would be worth it, but there’s more.
Praying for people in positions of power pushes you to action. People like to tease the church, that we don’t actually do anything. We just sit in our buildings and pray. “Let’s fight. You pray, I’ll punch, and we’ll see who wins.” But every great awakening, every great reform movement has begun in prayer. It’s surprisingly hard to pray for someone day after day after day and then do nothing. It’s surprisingly hard to pray for someone day after day and imagine they are somehow better than you.
Athens, Alabama KKK (Ku Klux Klan) Rally and Counter-Protests September 2007. Original work by Gregory Skibinski on a Creative Commons License
Look at the picture on front of your bulletin. This is what prayerful action looks like. These people are standing across the street from a KKK rally. Imagine standing on that street, and one one side there are angry people, someone yelling into a microphone. On the other side of the street, you see no fear, no rage, no violence, and no hoping it will all just go away. You’re standing there in the middle of the street, and you already know who has won.
Right now, the big fear in Saugatuck seems to be Aubry McLendon. Some people are afraid he’s going to destroy the dunes forever, or lock them away so no one can enjoy them any more. Some fear that he’ll bully his way though and his fancy new development will suck life away from our little downtown.
A casual reading of our text today might lead you to believe we should pray for him. Not true. The only reason we think that is because our culture confuses money with power. Of course we should pray for him, but for other reasons. Remember, the purpose of government? “So that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” Their job is to protect the boundaries and enforce the laws, to hold off chaos. In our town, who is doing that? Is it McLendon? No way! He’s pushing the boundaries.
Our job is to pray for our council and our city officers. Imagine you’re an elected official in the middle of a series of lawsuits with Aubry Mclendon. On the one hand you have threatening lawyers, on the other you have screaming environmentalists, and in the middle you have hundreds of people yelling at you that you’re wasting their money. It feels like you’re walking through a minefield. Then out of the blue, someone walks up to you and says, “I prayed for you today, that you would keep us safe and be free of corruption.” Wow, that was weird.
Then someone else comes up and says, “I prayed for you today, that you would help our people to live quiet lives of godliness and dignity.” Now you’re feeling strange. Later on, a third person walks up and says, “I’ve been praying for you and praying for you because you’re in a position of authority. In fact, I read the council minutes whenever I can so I’ll know better how to pray, and last week you said you needed help with something that I know how to do. Would you let me help? I don’t want any compensation or recognition. I just want to help.
How would that make you feel? Would a day like that make you re-evaluate your opinion of the church? Would a day like that make you a better politician? Let’s find out.
