For the record, I disagree with John Piper on several issues (I'll let you guess which ones...not all are mentioned in this video). However, I was incredibly encouraged to listen to his message. If only more conservative Christians sounded like John Piper, rather than like Focus on the Family Action with their "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," which I hesitate to even link to because I know it will only make a lot of people angry. Feel free not to read it. I am not recommending it.

Now, John Piper is not theologically very different from the Focus on the Family people. He believes God designed men and women to fulfill different roles. He believes homosexuality is sinful. But those aren't the only things he believes.

He believes there is hope in Jesus. He believes that God is in control, even of hard-fought democratic elections. He believes that we in the church should be about being Christians -- an astoundingly radical thought in an era when so many church leaders are deeply invested in being pro this or that piece of legislation. He insists that the church's mission is to "spread the gospel." Again, this should not be a radical claim, but somehow, right now, it is.

Christian involvement in politics is a complicated matter. Personally, I subscribe to the "sin boldly" school of Christian political thought (yes, I just made that school up). I believe that since Jesus is not on the ballot, I will be implicated in sin and evil and corruption no matter who I vote for. We are only human, and so are the candidates. Because I am human I must operate on limited information; I cannot predict the future. I will not be able to choose perfectly because there is no perfect option, and it is not altogether certain what even the "okay" option might be. I would have voted for George W. Bush in 2000, and today I would say I would have been wrong. Voting is not easy, and we should not imagine that either side has clean hands.

However, I also happen to believe that it's important to vote. Not to vote would be an abdication of my civic responsibility. And I do believe that important issues and ideas and even lives are at stake here. This election will affect the future of our country, whichever way it goes. It's important.

It's important, but it's not easy. Now, for honesty's sake here, I should clarify what I mean by "easy." I made up my mind in January, and I have not changed it. In fact, you could say I made up my mind sometime in late 2004, when I heard Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. I liked him then, and I like him now. I believe he will make a good President, and maybe a great one.

So in a real sense, this decision is very easy for me. I say it's not easy, though, because I still have a seed of doubt. I will enthusiastically vote for him, but I'll try to keep both eyes open. Doubtless there would be consequences of an Obama Presidency that would be negative, and it's impossible to tell now how significant those negatives would be. I am hopeful, but not without doubt. Trusting, but not without cynicism.

I think my posture is about as good of one as a Christian could have (um, humbly). Mostly, I hope, because it tempers the self-righteousness that comes with being on the obviously-superior-side (whichever side that is). I hope my seed of doubt leaves me more respectful of people who disagree with me. I know they have their reasons.

I wish we had more arguments about politics in church. I mean honest, respectful arguments, which are hard to have. It's easy to conclude that the people who disagree with you are stupid, crazy, evil, or some combination of the three. It's harder to listen to them and keep in mind the fact that your opponent is yet God's child, your sibling, no matter how different they are. No matter, even, how wrong they are. For Christ's sake, let's remember that our salvation does not hinge on how we vote.

When I remember Christ my Savior, I am less anxious about who to vote for. Sin boldly, said Martin Luther, the reformer who kick-started Protestantism 491 years ago today. Sin boldy because God is merciful, because you know not what you do. Sin bodly, as you cannot help but sin; yet nevertheless, live and love and risk and act and vote in the confidence that Christ lives to offer you forgiveness, to always invite you home.

What I appreciate about John Piper, I think, is that he comes to a similar conclusion. I hear in the background of his thought one theme: Jesus is my hero and defender, not John McCain. Jesus is my hope and reconciler, not Barack Obama. I could not agree more.

I am posting the "long version" of this video because it gives more context, even though in the short version he says fewer controversial things. I don't want to portray him as anybody other than who he is, and my whole excitement over this video depends upon Piper's theological conservatism. I would ask you to watch the whole thing -- but if you can't stand it, skip forward to about 2:44 seconds in. He's worth listening to. I wish more Christians would.



For more on voting from John Piper, read this.

Slate has a new article by Farhad Manjoo suggesting that Barack Obama should maybe try lying more. This paragraph I found particularly depressing:
What is profoundly disturbing about this paragraph is what I consider its core truth: that it is now possible to cocoon oneself with newsmedia that already agree with you. It doesn't matter if we're talking about the New York Times or FOX News, both have the same affect --- if either one is the only source you believe.

I have recently tried to balance myself out a bit. I'm reading the Wall Street Journal more in an attempt to ensure that my most conservative source of news isn't the Colbert Report. I've tried to read a few conservative blogs. I find that while I usually find the articles interesting and admit some of the editorials make good points, I cannot stand to read any of the comments. People on the internet are mean, plain and simple, and the "facts" hardly matter at all.

I have found FactCheck.org to be an invaluable reminder of Reality. Everything else I read I take with a grain of salt.

I think our democracy is at stake here, and I don't think I'm an alarmist. If we cannot sustain decent, honorable, and truthful political discourse, we will be left to vote more and more on the basis of lies and emotion. The "truth" will become subservient to power, if it isn't already.

Obviously, we will always have differences of opinion, conflicting dreams for what America could be. But we do not have to have a politics of slander. I know we're sinners, all, but come on. We can hold liars accountable. We can be less cynical ("Oh, that's just politics") and more involved. We can quit believing that lies during a campaign will stop after the election; one who lies to get power will lie to retain it.

I think Christians, especially, should demand better. We are commanded to delight in the truth, and we are warned not to give false witness against our neighbor. I think our Christian witness is at stake, lest we leave ourselves open to the accusation that all we're after is power --- in other words, we should demand truthfulness even when lies might advance our agenda, lest we lose all credibility.

Furthermore, each of us should seek after wisdom at all costs, as the Book of Proverbs encourages us. The wise person, Scripture tells us, is not the person who has it all figured out, who knows all the answers already. The wise person is the one who listens to correction, who goes so far as to even love the one who rebukes her. Which is all to say that if we only listen to those who reinforce our own version of reality, we do so at our peril --- and I believe this to be the case whether we're talking about our view of politics or relationships or our own holiness. If we cannot admit when we are wrong, we are without hope.

Lastly, we should try to aim for truth because otherwise we can easily fall into hate. It's easy to demonize your opponents/their supporters if you don't listen to a word they say. And you have to actually listen to them --- not just listen to a report of what they said. We are told to love our enemies. That includes "commie pinko stuck-up fembots" and "racist war-mongering theocrats." Feel free to check my source on that.

This morning my husband woke me up gently with the news that author David Foster Wallace had been found dead in his home on Friday. He was only 46, and he hung himself.

The sad news has left me with several emotions, not all of which will fit on this page. I am sad that more of his books will not be written, sad a talent like his has been lost, so much wasted. I am sad to lose a moral voice in this country -- a moral voice that sometimes filled with sincerity and seriousness rather than irony and cynicism. I wonder why such genius came with such despair.

I pray that the hints of religious faith I found in his works, which did not prove a protection against this life's torments, may nonetheless usher him into that promised final rest.

*

Earlier this year, I read his essay "Up, Simba," about John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. In it Wallace ruminates on the general state of politics. At some points, his commentary seems stunningly dated, at only eight years removed; take, for instance, the fact that one of the points of debate between Bush and McCain in 2000 was how to spend the federal budget surplus. Or that both Republican candidates were critical of Clinton's "photo-op" foreign policy, which was described as weak and "candy-assed."

At other moments, however, I was amazed at how little has changed, and how much McCain in 2000 felt like Obama in 2008, inasmuch as both drew a lot of young voters, campaigned as underdogs, and appealed to a deep need in Americans to believe.

In honor of David Foster Wallace, and in a spirit of fairness to both political candidates, I would like to quote a bit from "Up, Simba." I would like the mud-slinging to end, as much as anybody, even though I get angry enough to fling some myself from time to time. Here's hoping our nation does not self-destruct. Here's hoping for hope itself:

Here's Obama responding to another line from Palin's speech.

Happy Tuesday. I promise to post again about non-political topics, but as of right now I am borderline-obsessed.

In her debut speech at the Republican National Convention last night, Gov. Sarah Palin mocked Senator Obama's early work as a community organizer, saying, " I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

While I am glad we have a woman on the ticket for Vice President and admit she gave a powerful speech, I could not let this moment slip by without one clarification. Just what exactly is "community organizing" anyway?

Most people have never met a community organizer, or at least didn't know it if they did. It's easy to dismiss it as some "citified" job, something distant and amorphous and out-of-touch with reality. However, if people knew what community organizing was about, they might sing a different tune.

Community organizing is just that: the endeavor to organize a group or groups of people around a common goal, for their own good, to gain a voice in the halls of power. It involves meeting with people, listening to their concerns, helping them to join forces together and advocating for their interests. It's not as foreign as it might seem; anybody who has seen the movie "Norma Rae" could recall the union organizer who inspired Norma Rae to stand up to her bosses at the textile mill. "Norma Rae" was based a on true story, and the courage and persistence of the real Norma Rae is nothing to mock at.

We have a proud history of "community organization" in this country. That's what Dr. Martin Luther King was doing when he organized the members of the black community in Montgomery, Alabama, to walk to work instead of taking the bus. That's what Susan B. Anthony was doing when she organized the suffragettes to rally for woman's right to vote. I daresay that's what the Founding Fathers were doing when they organized the various immigrant groups against the British power that demanded taxes without representation, emboldening people to believe that a new country may be born and out of many people, one.

Gov. Palin, do you mock the work of Dr. King? Do you mock the work of Susan B. Anthony, your foremother, without whom you would not be voting let alone running for office? Do you mock the foundational belief of this nation that we, the people, own our government and therefore have a voice in it?

No, Gov. Palin, I am sure you do not mock any of those proud men and women in our history. But why, then, do you mock Senator Obama for believing in their principles and their dreams?

It's true, Obama did not accomplish anything so grand as racial equality or women's suffrage or founding a new nation. That much is obvious. His two main victories were "the expansion of a city summer-job program for South Side teenagers and the removal of asbestos from one of the area’s oldest housing projects" (and that's according to the National Review). Even so, you're going to knock him for trying?

You can criticize Obama in a lot of ways, several of them legitimate. You can argue against his policy proposals, and I would listen to what you have to say. You can call him a liberal, and I would offer no defense. But mock his work in Chicago as a community organizer and I will publicly denounce you: Either you are ignorant about what community organizing entails, or you are deliberately twisting the truth.

Readers, please take the time to investigate for yourself what exactly community organizing is and what Obama did for those years on the South Side of Chicago. Below are links to more information.

"Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City," chapter by Barack Obama in After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois, published in 1990.
"On the Streets of Chicago, A Candidate Comes of Age," U.S. News & World Report (August 2007)
"How Community Organizing Shaped Obama's Politics," Wall Street Journal (March 2007)
"Obama's Community Roots," The Nation (April 2007)
"The Organizer," National Review (June 2008) - not full article unless you subscribe to the NR

My friend Kendra has written about our privilege as the children of God to bring good news to all creation - to the trees and sky and oceans. She says this better than I say it here, but I have to point out with pride that she was inspired by a sermon my husband gave - his first one! - just a couple Fridays ago.

Be encouraged.