The church, or lights out

Writing legislation for the good of society is a noble, worthy task. Public service is an honorable vocation. But politicians, no matter how sincere their motivation, can only do so much.

For eight years during the decade of the nineties I went to Washington, D.C., every month to meet in the foremost centers of power with some of the highest elected officials in our country. What I discovered was not how powerful these people are, but how limited their power really is. All they can actually do is rearrange the yard markers on the playing field of life. They can’t change a human heart. They can’t heal a wounded soul. They can’t turn hatred into love. They can’t bring about repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace…

I believe that only one power exists on this sorry planet that can do that. It’s the power of Jesus Christ, the love that conquers sin and wipes out shame and heals wounds and reconciles enemies and patches broken dreams and ultimately changes the world, one life at a time. And what grips my heart every day is the knowledge that the radical message of that transforming love has been given to the church.

That means that in a very real way the future of the world rests in the hands of congregations like yours and mine. It’s the church or it’s lights out. Without churches so filled with the power of God that they can’t help but spill goodness and peace and love and joy into the world, depravity will win the day; evil will flood the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Strong, growing communities of faith can turn the tide of history. (Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership)

Several of us, including me, wrote posts just before the election that said something along these lines. We agreed that government can’t effect real change. It’s not the political process, but the power of God’s love expressed through human hearts and hands, that brings change, restoration, life. Hybels’ words are encouraging to me, and also very sobering. They don’t describe something I see as a powerful, appealing, living force in our culture.

What grieves me after this election is not that my belief in the political process was shattered. I didn’t expect government to be a panacea. What concerns me is that in a democracy, the government we elect reflects who we are. It’s a mirror of the populace, of sorts.

What does this government say about us?