As the District Superintendent of the Cumberland District, I purposefully maintain political neutrality, unless there is a moral issue at stake. (Some would argue every political decision has moral implications.) But, I have learned over the years to respect folks who have different opinions than I do, and we can still be friends and fellow disciples of Jesus.
At the same time, I believe it is important for the church and for each of us as individual Christians to enter into the political process, to have a sense of civic duty, and to be good citizens. Jesus said to give to the emperor what belongs to him (Mark 12:17), and I believe that includes not only taxes, but also civic responsibility. I believe we Christians are called to be supportive of our government, as long as the government is under the rule of law and is not committing injustice against people.
This week, we’ve come into a historic day as we elected a new President. I know that many of my friends and many of our church members supported different candidates. I am not even going to say how I voted. I generally keep my electoral opinions to a few close friends and myself. How any of us voted doesn’t matter much now. We have an elected President, and we need to unify the country to make forward progress on a number of issues.
Particularly, I believe we need to pray for those in authority (1 Tim 2:2). I do that nearly each week in my pastoral prayer in worship and daily in my personal prayers. We have some huge issues confronting our nation and the world—economic struggles, war, terrorism, health care, and education—you name it, there’s a problem with it (or we are more aware for the first time.) I truly believe that President Trump will need divine guidance to govern in these challenging times.
So, please join with me in praying for our country. Let’s also pray that our church, no matter what the political climate might be, will be faithful to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus is the most important news for anyone of any political party.
It is my privilege to be your District Superintendent.
Scott
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