The writ dropped over a month ago and the federal election campaign is in full swing.
And now for the faithful politicos and believers in “God keep our land,” the long road to election day on Oct. 19 promises to be a weary one.
Most Canadians normally vote along party lines. But perhaps a small minority care or even dare to check the individual candidate’s profile for his or her moral or spiritual pedigree.
Honestly, I have had my candidate and party already picked up a lot prior to the writ dropping. As a campaign volunteer I now await on tiptoe to expedite the person’s victory, even with some prayer.
Did I hear some readers bewilderingly moan at this stage, shrugging what prayer has to do with sending a person to Ottawa? Let’s analyze what indeed it has.
The Bible’s injunction to pray for leaders does precede even those leaders’ climb to Parliament Hill. It urges us to invoke blessing upon their steps preparatory to the climb.
Notwithstanding the “dirty” politics that our nation might have been victim to over the years, the past two or so years have been particularly besmirching.
What with the hallowed halls of the Senate badly scandalized, and promises both big and small being broken, the loss of faith in leaders has hurt many, if not most.
This election year a bit more of soul searching before casting our precious ballots might be in order, to check out a candidate’s moral, ethical and even spiritual antecedents.
Can Canada afford a “sleeping moral majority” waiting to be loosed? I believe it can and should.
Is it time for the need for a restoration of spiritual values in public life?
“Doing our own things,” and the resultant spiral of vicious degenerative cycles of brokenness in society emanate from society’s failure to understand man’s need for God.
The right of religious people of all faiths to influence Canada’s political process can still slow down — if not prevent — erosion of godly ethics so essential to democracy.
Seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness was a slogan of Jesus early in his ministry on Earth.
When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he was not referring to the general sovereignty of God over nature and history, but to that specific rule over His own people which he himself had inaugurated and which begins in anybody’s life when he humbles himself.
It is not clear why Jesus distinguished between his kingdom and his righteousness as twin but separate objects of priority in godly quest.
God’s rule is a righteous rule and in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be willing to be persecuted for it, and to exhibit a righteousness greater than that of the phony law-keepers — namely the Pharisees.
Then we are told to seek first the righteousness of God, in addition to seeking first the kingdom of God.
The difference between the two lies in the fact that God’s kingdom exists where He is consciously acknowledged. To be in His kingdom is synonymous with enjoying His salvation.
But God’s “righteousness” is a wider concept than God’s “kingdom.” It includes individual and social righteousness as well.
And God, because He Himself is a righteous God, desires righteousness in every human community, not just in Christian community.
For some years in recent past, Christians have looked to politics to save Canada. We thought that the right prime minister, the right parliament, and the right Supreme Court judges would stop abortions, strengthen marriage, create safer communities for single mothers and children, and ensure that religious rights were respected.
Our motivations were good ones. We wanted to save lives, homes and our nation. We saw ourselves as heirs to the Christian political tradition that fought for woman’s right to vote, end human trafficking, and espouse the general welfare of all Canadians.
Now, however, it is time to take stock both politically and spiritually. Has our political focus produced the desired results?
Things are hardly better. Social statistics are largely unchanged. Divorces are growing and more and more children are growing up in single-parent homes.
Thousands of children are in foster care and will never have a permanent home. More and more Canadians are living in intractable poverty. Educational achievement is hardly soaring.
We have had great electoral success and marginal political success.
People of goodwill of all faiths can disagree about income splitting, health care policies or the war on ISIS. Yet these disagreements can prevent relationships and fellowship.
The time is now to develop greater intimacy with God and follow a way to be humbled in God’s sight by politicians.
Perhaps we would be a better electorate if we eschew red hot politics in order to focus more on practicing compassion.
We need to spend more time studying the Sermon on the Mount and less time trying to get people elected.
And, along with that, let us keep our eyes and hearts open in preparation to choose men and women “who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3) to be our servants in Ottawa.
Let labels and affiliations and policy positions melt away in God’s presence.
