A More Perfect Communion
For many, the anticipation of this presidential election season has been filled with weariness, anxiety, trepidation, and even fear. If we are not careful, it would be easy to let these feelings shape our worldview, our sense of possibility, and our collective imaginations. As Christians who are concerned with issues of justice, mercy, and mutual flourishing, it can feel confusing to know how to bring our faith to bear on political questions without being lumped in with the many caricatures of Christianity that tend to be highlighted in the media. What kind of world should Christians seek to help bring about? As one candidate put it, “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.” How might we be part of shaping a world where neighborliness is not dismissed as a weakness, but offers a compelling invitation to experience the mutual flourishing which God desires for us all to experience? How do we pursue this in a democracy that increasingly seems to be more concerned with winning than caring for the common good? As Christians, we hold a kind of dual citizenship, understanding that we belong to two realities of living – the kingdom of God that is near but not yet arrived, and the democratic ideal of “a more perfect union” that is still struggling to be realized in fullness. In the midst of this in-between and not-yet, we are taking time to remember and realign our political imaginations with the prophetic imagination that scripture casts to reflect on questions of money, people, the law, power, and what it takes to pursue A More Perfect Communion.