Thought for Today
Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Romans 13:12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
James 1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
I checked, the word ‘compartmentalize’ does not appear in the Bible. In fact, the word ‘compartment’ doesn’t even appear in the Bible. I thought about that this morning because of something I said in my sermon Sunday. I said, “It is easy to get caught up in the minutia of life, to become swamped in the daily morass of life, focused solely on our own problems and immediate issues.” I was reflecting on James 1:17-27, particularly his words about “1:23 those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”
Today in Massachusetts it is election day. Both party primaries for the November elections are being held today. Greta and I voted early by mail, but many will be headed to the polls today. And, between now and November 5th, all of us will be inundated with news coverage of the presidential campaigns and state and local campaigns. I don’t expect many (any?) to suggest that Christians vote based on their faith. Yet, somehow, in all the discussions about the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and the separation of church and state, implicit in everything is the suggestion that we should somehow put our faith aside, compartmentalize our lives, and vote based on party lines or some other basis. We cannot and we must not.
Some years ago, I read an article about a popular politician and the author said his greatest strength was his ability to compartmentalize his life. His ability to put everything else aside and only think about one single issue. I thought about that article and my comment Sunday as I watched the news this morning. I will be thinking a lot about all of this between now and November. As I do, I will remind myself of a line by Wm. Barclay, one of my favorite pastoral theologians. In discussing that passage from James, he wrote “that which is heard in the holy place must be lived in the market place.”
As Christians, we have looked into James’ mirror. While we know the words of the Prophet of Ecclesiastes, we know that the time and place for our faith is everywhere and all the time. We cannot walk away and forget who . . . and whose we are. We must hear the words in our holy place and live them out in the market places of our daily lives. We cannot become bogged down in life’s minutia, mired in the morass of daily life and forgetting how we are called to live.
Once we don the armor of light which is our faith, irrespective of whether the day is far gone, we cannot compartmentalize our faith. We cannot lay that faith aside at any time for any reason. I often remind myself (and anyone else who will listen) that easy and simple are 2 different words. To always be a Christian is simple. We don’t have a wealth of confusing and sometimes contradictory rules. We don’t have Pharisaic laws and regulations of which we must always be mindful. Our law is the law of love. Christians are called to love God and to love our neighbors.
Christians should heed James’ words, “be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;” even when someone inevitably disagrees with us about how we ‘must’ cast our vote. Christians will inevitably disagree on some issues and candidates. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “1:12 each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
From now to November 5th, and always, we must remember that we are Christians. We must remember that irrespective of elections or campaigns or parties or anything else, we belong to Christ. And Christ told us, Luke 10:27 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Stay safe, make sure they know we are Christians by our love, trust God,
Pastor Ray