Post-election appassionata

I am a Christian. For all intents and purposes, I was trained to be a pastor. I have not had a perfect life; in fact, I have made many choices that go 'against' what a Christian should do. And I am sitting here in front of my computer RELIEVED that I have had the opportunity to go through what almost everyone else in the world goes through, because although at this point in time I am questioning many things and re-sorting my beliefs and priorities - although I need to, as most Christians would say, come back to God - I have walked through the desert with everyone else who has been there and I freaking know and understand - real life.

I've been reading lately. I've been reading blogs and books and articles from people who have been pro-McCain and pro-Republican because simply put: he and Sarah Palin represent the principles and values they hold most dear. Well, history has made itself and Obama won. Probably no more point arguing it now. But I see a bigger problem. And I have seen and read very little that addresses it.

We as Christians like to believe that we are somehow 'set apart' and different and better than the rest of world. I know no one wants to say that out loud, but if we're honest, that's what we think. We box ourselves in, keep ourselves safe with our belief in 'values' and 'principles' and many, many times lose sight of the reality of life and the realities in which other people live.

If I'm honest, I don't see the point to a God who can't connect with real people in real times. I don't see a point to a religious stand that keeps us Christians separate and apart from people - real people. I don't see a point to being 'holy' - set apart, completely other - if we are completely other, away from everybody else. Our extreme viewpoints polarize and alienate us from the rest of the world. We cry out in the safety of our churches for revival to come to the land and yet we as the deliverers of hope wall ourselves in with our narrow viewpoints and extreme opinions. We have no hope to offer on our self-rightous pedestals.

What does Barack Obama represent? Forgetting for one moment that the Democratic party historically combats some of the basic principles that Christians make their stand on: Barack Obama represents hope. That in and of itself should be a shining light into our corporate Christian brain - that in and and of itself should be the 'ah hah' we've all been waiting for. Hope is what people want. Hope is what people need. Hope is what was shining on the faces of the thousands of people crowding the square last night in Chicago. And funny enough: oh, and this is where it gets good and what causes gratitude and tears to flow through my heart: hope is what Jesus brought.

He brought hope that we can be and are, children of God. He brought hope that we can know the Father even more and better than he did. He brought hope that we, the common people, would do the things that he did and yet even more. He brought hope of eternal life - not just the kind that goes on after the body dies, but here - and now. He brought hope that we can go through anything - and he will understand and forgive and teach and love.........Jesus brought hope.

I think we, as a corporate whole, have completely and thoroughly missed the point. And I think it's time for us to start opening our eyes. The world wants hope. We have the answer. Not in the form of judgments and opinions and stalwart beliefs: in the love that flows through us because we were first loved. We have to be willing to get off our high-powered, status-oriented, principled horses, and get down in the muck with everyone else. I think what we might find will surprise us. Because funny enough, the muck is where everything grows. And hope is seed easily planted and once sown - a tree that bears beautiful fruit.