Thought for Today

“Ultimately, we must transcend the categories of liberal and conservative to reclaim the politics of Jesus. We must reject the aspects of each that contradict Jesus’ politics and embrace those things that are in accord with his Gospel. We must embrace conservatism’s willingness to speak its faith and the transformational power of that witness. And we must lay claim to liberalism’s care for the poor and weak and it insistence on equity and justice.

We Christians must not let ourselves be deceived into either exclusive allegiance or exclusive opposition to either party. What must be opposed is valorization of the rich as if they have a natural right to rule. What must be opposed is moral laxity masquerading as liberation. What must be opposed is hunger and violence and exploitation and oppression, and mistreatment of anyone for any reason. We must oppose all these because they fly in the face of the politics of Jesus. To do otherwise is to dishonor his ministry, his mission, and the death he willingly died for our sakes.”

The Politics of Jesus, by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr.


Ever since reading this book on our 30 hour long train ride to Moscow I have been pondering these paragraphs... and they will definitely influence how I plan to vote in the future.