Rhonda Reese Purtee

I love being a Pastor in the Christian faith.  The privilege is one of my heart’s greatest delights and has never yet been a burden.  That does not mean, however, that I am unaware of the weight of sacred responsibility that accompanies anyone who stands in the place of this calling to attend to the spiritual care and nurture of others.  This awareness shapes both what I say and how I say it. 

I am no less opinionated than anyone else, but I do try to exercise care in expressing those opinions when they overlap into areas where differences are particularly fraught.  I do not want anyone to ever feel that agreement/disagreement with my opinion has anything at all to do with access to the care and connection of the Church or myself as a Pastor.  I believe wholeheartedly that ALL are invited to come; no exceptions, no asterisk, no fine print.  This is a joyous truth from which to live, and breathe, and be. 

That said, I have become increasingly more concerned that I may be failing to achieve the correct balance in my carefulness.  I have no wish to enter into the political space – that is not my lane.  But, to a greater and greater degree political ideologies are attempting to influence and reform Christianity into little more than a wedge and cudgel used for political ends wholly divorced from both orthodoxy and orthopraxy.  That is my lane, and I am weary of watching it be overrun by those who want nothing more than an expedient tool to serve themselves. 

Lest my continued silence be taken as acquiescence with the misappropriation of God’s name and mission, please hear me say, without apology; Christians are called to live a life recognizably shaped by the pattern Jesus modeled. 

Let me be specific;

• This is a lifestyle marked by attitudes and actions that are life-giving, even and especially when at great personal cost. 

• It is a lifestyle that gives preference to the hungry, the thirsty, the infirm, the imprisoned, the oppressed, the poor, and the marginalized while requiring accountability from those with wealth, power, and privilege. 

• It is a lifestyle affirming God’s intention that all people would bear the image of God, regardless of age, gender, race, education, socioeconomic status, birthplace, or any of the other myriad ways the systems of empires seek to impose hierarchies of value.

• It is a lifestyle that bears the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control.

• It is a lifestyle that rejects expressions of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

• And ultimately, according to scripture, it is an identity that is affirmed by others to the degree to which they can see and hear our love for each other.

During the recent past I have heard voices in positions of political power, self-identifying as Christians, invoking God’s name to sanctify the hope that our military’s actions would deliver  “souls to eternal damnation”; that we will “blow the hell out of those people”; dehumanizing people by labeling them as “animals”, “vermin”, and “garbage.” These words and works are unequivocally contrary to the lifestyle of a Christ follower and I will not concede that the righteousness of God is ever in need of unrighteous means to fulfill it. 

I remain most disconcerted by those in positions of leadership and influence within the Christian faith community who seem willing to trade the inheritance entrusted to their care for proximity to power & privilege.  Rather than leading in the Way of Jesus they have chosen to follow in the footsteps of people whose primary allegiance is to power rather than to God.  In speaking of electing secular leaders we say, not incorrectly, that we’re electing a politician not a pastor/pope.  It’s an acknowledgement that we do not have the same expectancy of secular leaders to walk in righteousness as we have of our church leaders.  This makes inexcusable the willingness of any church leader to use the power of God’s name and sanctity of God’s platform to validate and co-sign the broken systems, structures, and practices of secular culture. If mere politicians doing temporal things are not responsible for the eternal matters of the Kingdom of God and faith leaders are following those politicians, who then is seeing to the holy work of God in this world?

I do not identify myself by any particular political ideology.  I seek to vote my conscience and I believe that you do as well.  I find great wisdom in the ancient latin saying that has been translated and put to good use in my own theological tradition; “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”  It is a generous and gracious way to share a community together.  My singular intent here is to speak into the places where the Christian faith, in which I have a shared stewardship, is being misused.

We all must give careful attention to whether our political expression is shaping our faith, or our faith is shaping our political expression.