Scott’s Column: Politics & the Pulpit

“Does politics belong in the pulpit?” was the first question Brother James asked us.

We were gathered at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for the first of our three-part ecumenical series “The Gospel & the Kingdom.”  The first gathering August 2 was a panel discussion that explored “the way in which the gospel informs our real world engagement and witness.”

Brother James, a Franciscan monk, facilitated the panel made up of me, the Rev. Craig Loya who is the Dean of Trinity Cathedral, and the Rev. Paul Moessner who is one of the Associate Pastors at Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church.

Brother James had told us he was going to start with such a blunt question, as all ministers have heard congregants tell them that politics does not belong in the pulpit.

All three of us, however,  answered “yes,” that politics does belong in the pulpit.

Dean Loya discussed the central role of politics in the biblical story and how our salvation is not only personal but involves the formation of a more just society.  He did clarify that he doesn’t think partisanship belongs in the pulpit, but that the preacher must speak about social values.

I talked about our Reformed tradition beginning with John Calvin in Geneva that viewed being a good and engaged citizen as part of being a faithful Christian.  And how that core idea had never left our tradition over centuries of development.

And Christian theology views the church itself as an alternative politics.  Central to being church is the idea that we are formed as an alternative community to the status quo.

Brother James later asked us what the problem was with the answers we gave to his first question–a great exercise in self-examination.

We all responded that increased partisan polarization had made preaching more difficult because people heard us through that lens and if we expressed a core biblical value–for instance, welcoming the refugee–then we were now heard espousing one party’s policies over another, when that was not our aim.

All three of us said we generally aren’t confrontational, but we know that is part of the preaching tradition (the prophet Amos was mentioned), and we wrestle with those times when maybe we should be more direct.  I talked of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a good recent example of a preacher who was very political but always in a way that lifted up his opponents and offered them the opportunity for repentance and to join the beloved community.

It was a fruitful conversation, revealing how three preachers wrestle with a live issue.