This Country Needs Neither the Right Nor the Left

I'm giving myself a selfish birthday present today - an independent voter's blog rant!  This morning I watched both CNN and Fox News while working out.  Amazingly they generally agreed that present American politics are in the tank, circling the drain.  President Obama's approval rating is at an all time low.   Democrats continue to offer nothing better than variations of tax-and-spend.  And the best they can put on the horizon for the next White House run is Hillary Clinton.  (Seriously?!?).   Things are no better in the Republican camp.  Overall public confidence in the GOP brand is crushingly weak.  When they should be developing a whole new comprehensive strategy to take advantage of Democrats on the ropes, Republicans seem utterly incapable of offering anything better than, "We don't like Obama, and the Affordable Healthcare Act will take us all to hell in a hand basket!"  The Tea Party views their most interesting and potentially promising next level leader, Chris Christie, as a renegade.

And if all this isn't bad enough, rarely has this nation had less confidence in our representatives in Congress.   The public approval rating of Congress is in the single digits - SINGLE DIGITS, PEOPLE!     Now, tell me again how we independent voters have it all wrong...  (The two-party system, at least in its present manifestation, is a joke at best and a catastrophe at worst.  But that's a subject for another blog post.)

This country's crisis is not about whether the right or the left prevail.  It's a deeper issue than that.  It's about LEADERSHIP.   It's about giving up this insane quest for leaders who look the best, produce the best sound bytes, have the best handlers, schmooze the best, gather the most campaign funds, leverage the strongest backers and influence, are the most media-friendly, and can spin any issue any way that keeps the populace placated.  It's time to find LEADERS!

I'm from Illinois, originally.  I grew up learning about Abraham Lincoln like it was second nature.  Granted, those of us from "The Land of Lincoln" may tend to deify old Abe.  Yet he was clearly a man who had the courage and determination to lead, in the midst of the worst crisis the nation had faced to that point.  He was not a handsome man by most standards.  Lincoln was introspective, introverted, and thought by many to be socially awkward.  He could be painfully slow to make decisions in the eyes of some, and dictatorial in the eyes of others.  At times his own Cabinet and generals were totally frustrated with him.  And Lincoln had his own personal pains and "demons" which he faced every day.  Yet this man found the courage and determination to lead,  boldly and without apology.  He found his mission, preserving this union, and he pursued it without wavering.  He accepted responsibility and took the heat.  He kept a vision before this country when bloodied American soil made vision impossible.  Right or wrong, regardless of politics, Abraham Lincoln was a leader!

Where are those leaders now?  All party politics aside, what this country needs is leadership.  Maybe those of us who are followers of Jesus humbly need to hit our knees through 2014, yielding to the heart of God and seeking the rise of genuine leaders.  

Here ends the rant.  I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Did I Sign On to Follow Jesus Or Not?

We people of faith can spend endless energy stewing and worrying over the details of following Jesus.  We'll do sermon series about it, have small groups about it, market and consume scores of Christian how-to books about it, and chew up endless Sunday School hours having interesting discussions about it.  We'll talk about about what it "really means" to follow Jesus and how we fit that in with work, soccer practice, fantasy football, spin class, and all the rest of our impossibly overbooked lives.  Too many times we focus on talking and learning about following Jesus and never get around to actually following him!  I'm not judging anyone.  I am chief among sedentary Christian navel-gazers.

In his blistering and transformative book, COSTLY GRACE:  A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF BONHOEFFER'S  THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP, Jon Walker points out that following Jesus is not just something to add to my resume.  Following Jesus is to BE my resume!  I no more ponder on how to fit it into my life than a paratrooper decides to jump out of a plane when it feels right or when it is convenient.  Using this analogy, Walker says this: "When paratroopers are trained to jump from a plane, they have to reach a point where they do not hesitate at the door...They cannot approach the threshold then decide whether or not to jump.  It's not the time to debate whether the plane is at the right altitude or going the right speed.  It's not the time to question if they are over the right target or if the pilot knows where he is going.  It's not the time to question if they were really ordered to jump or if they should wait to jump until they are absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt certain the jump will be safe.  The real question is: did you sign up to be a paratrooper or not?  (emphasis mine)  If the answer is yes, then they must learn to jump without reservation or hesistation.  They must trust that the plane is at the right altitude and going the right speed, that they are over the target, and that the pilot knows what he is doing."  (page 49.)

So the real question I have to answer is this:  did I sign on to be a follower of Jesus or not?  I'll see you around the next bend in the river.