During my first fall in Korea, I was told that
this was the season for books. It’s actually a thing there, books and picnics…
things that I presumed could be done at other times of the year, but who am I
to complain?
I crawled into the dingy basement that touted
itself as a bookstore for foreigners. I combed through the poorly organized
piles, looking for something that would be simultaneously cheap and
stimulating. 12,000KRW for Twilight, 15,000KRW for anything by Milan Kundera, and
8,000KRW for Jesus for President…
sold!
It seemed like a whole bunch of well-meaning
post-modern hippies who liked to corroborate the Bible with Gandhi quotes. Yes,
Jesus for President… Amish for Homeland Security… Anglicans for Treasury… good
changes, all of them.
One thing that they said, really resonated with
me: ”we still are, political refugees in post-religious-right America. No party
feels like home. No candidate seems to value the things we see Jesus talking
about in the Sermon on the Mount. Our money says in God we trust … but our
economy looks like the seven deadly sins.”
It truly begs the question, what would America look like if Jesus were in
charge?
Now, here I am… in 2012, and I passed up another chance to register Republican just so that I can have some
say on which wack-job should push back on Obama’s creepy notions that Planned
Parenthood would prevent his daughters from being “punished” with a baby. I'm feeling a bit irritable, a bit like a political misfit with every established group feeling
either harsh, unscrupulous, racist, or just… weird. So, how do I partake in
this circus?
How do we partake? [Read: we=Christians]
What if it looks scarier and more radical than
grudgingly voting for donkeys or elephants? What if it looks like a revolution
under the blood of the lamb?!
Acts
17:6-8
[They] dragged Jason and
some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have
caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason
has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying
that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard
this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.
I think I’m beginning to understand that the “Kingdom” is not just a
sideline/strange subculture… it’s an Empire! He’s coming to invade Earth with
heaven, and the early church was constantly aware of this every time they
proclaimed “Jesus is Lord” rather than “Caesar is Lord.” What if we said Jesus is President, not Obama… Gingrich…
Romney…
Oooh, sounds subversive! =)
