10-29-2012, 07:15 PM
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Would the Last Supper have been 'trickle-down toxic' if Obama/Romney politics were on
Would the Last Supper have been 'trickle-down toxic' if Obama/Romney politics were on the table?
Quote:
If Jesus held the Last Supper today, he wouldn’t divide the table between Obama and Romney supporters.
Just look at that first bunch: tax collector, zealot, doubter, denier and betrayer. Not exactly a cohesive voting bloc. It was just the Jesus party, a motley lot of fishermen placing their faith in a radical rabbi who seemed to know a thing or two about God.
“They all were brought together by this meal,” said Ben Irwin, who counts himself a Jesus follower these 2,000 years later. “That was the point: The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brings us together regardless of our differences.”
Regardless of our differences: Now there’s a new thought. Can there be any “regardless” anymore, when differences are demonized and supposedly friendly Facebook postings blink red or blue? Can we even gather around for a meal without politics poisoning the wine?
Irwin thinks we can. That’s why he and a couple of other ministers have organized a sacred event to counter the almost profane polarization enveloping next Tuesday’s elections.
Election Day Communion seeks a few brave churches to hold Eucharist services the night of Nov. 6. It aims to remind Christians where their ultimate allegiance lies, no matter how they vote that day. Pull the lever for Barack, Mitt or your pharmacist, organizers say. Just remember real power lies not with electing officials but in loyally following Jesus.
“No politician, no party can deliver the utopian society they promise,” Irwin told me amid the happy din of The Bitter End Coffeehouse. “Neither candidate is the hope of the world. As Christians, we believe that job is taken.”
He also hopes non-Christians can benefit from the example of a faith community pushing back against polarization and proclaiming self-sacrifice over self-interest. Says Irwin, “that would be a breath of fresh air to society as a whole.”
So far, nearly 600 churches in 49 states have signed up on the Election Day Communion website. Oddly, only one of them is in West Michigan – an unnamed house church in Ada. Glen Lake Community Reformed Church in Glen Arbor also is participating. Is this the best our fabled land of churches can do?
Not that one must participate in a post-vote communion to demonstrate greater unity or amity amid this miserable election season. Why, meeting a friend for lunch with whom you disagree politically would be a swell start. Maybe even invite an apolitical friend to moderate!
Seriously, could you be any more fed up with these election campaigns and their annoying, apocalyptic ads? Start at the top with the presidential slugfest and work your way down to the state ballot proposal streetfights. Ali vs. Frazier was a waltz compared to this. At least they were fighting fairly.
Sure, politics has always been a contact sport, but somewhere along the way bald-faced lying became an acceptable tactic. Why do we teach our children to always tell the truth but let candidates get away with falsehoods backed by billion-dollar super-PACs?
And since when did one’s political rival become the de facto devil and the rival parties enemy gangs? Their nonstop mudslinging splatters onto the rest of us, making anything remotely political a radioactive subject. Call it trickle-down nastiness.
Truth be told, I strongly support one of the presidential candidates (try to suppress your shock) and I have friends who strongly back the other. Somehow we manage to not hate each other, much as long, long ago people like Republican Congressman Paul Henry and Democratic Senator Phil Hart could respect and work with their political foes for the common good. No really, I’m not making this up!
Some in the faith community are trying to counter the toxic trickle-down. Krista Tippett, host of the American Public Media program “On Being,” has begun a Civil Conversations Project aimed at holding just those conversations around controversial topics. A recent episode featured Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, and Gabe Lyons, founder of the Q project, discussing a post-Religious Right model of evangelical Christian engagement in public life.
Now comes Irwin and his collaborators, Mennonite ministers Mark Schloneger and Kevin Gasser. Their Election Day Communion started with a small effort by Schloneger and Gasser in the 2008 election. By word of mouth and link of Internet it has blossomed this year into a nationwide effort that’s still building.
The idea has hit a hot button for a lot of people who are good and sick of political polarization, says Irwin, a former Zondervan publishing executive and now director of church engagement at Biblica, the former International Bible Society.
“It leads us to view everything as us vs. them,” said Irwin, a Grand Rapids resident. “A lot of people are hungry for a fresh start, kind of a reset.”
He hopes by taking Holy Communion on election night, Christians will remind themselves there are things more important than the vote they cast, and that their faith calls them to embrace people who think differently than them.
“Jesus didn’t pray his followers would be known by their voting record,” he told me. “He prayed we would be known by our love for each other.”
Now, how can we make that one trickle down?
Would the Last Supper have been 'trickle-down toxic' if Obama/Romney politics were on the table? | MLive.com
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That church in Ada is not far from my home,perhaps they will have a spot at the table for me. I hope you can find a participating church near you.. 
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