I Appreciate That I Must Say Something in the Aftermath of the Election

As many know, I resist permitting secular political ideology, a morass of self-serving posturing, to interpenetrate with the spiritual.  My job is to represent, explain, and make alive a very ancient perspective on the world and the self, on the nature of Being that comes from Nothing, of the attempted answers to the eternal questions of "Where am I from?", "Why am I here?", and "Where am I going?"  I cannot do so if I limit our vision to what 21st century politicians, and their servants in the media and entertainment, find as valuable for me to believe, to think, and about which to speak.

So, here's my general theme about all of this: I don't really care.  I care little for either candidate; I am indifferent to the current occupant of the office, as opposed to the vast majority of my colleagues in both academia and ecclesia.  I also have little use for the professional bureaucrats of my own national church organization, who have been vocal about the dangers to the republic if any candidate but the one preferred by the professional church should attain the White House, suddenly claiming that now is the time for reconciliation.  I might suggest that they look up that business about logs and eyes that's in that dusty book on the lectern.  The mutterings from that quarter will continue and will build over the next four years.  They say and write publicly what they think is appropriate, but they live in a much different reality than what they represent.

Perhaps it's because I grew up in a political household, but I see them all as deeply flawed individuals rather than saviors, as is how I see myself.  I already have a Jesus and, conveniently, his name happens to be Jesus.  I regret that so many Christians need to have a secular Jesus, too, and it is to be a politician.  [I suppose I could understand were it a professional baseball player.]  However, because I believe strongly in the grander nature of the human race, especially when we acknowledge that we are creatures of a community brimming with hope and faith, I cannot despair.  I have seen too much good come from quiet moments of grace, in small pockets around the world, to ever despair of what a political class, a media, or a pop singer think about the world in which I abide.

I live for Jesus, and it is to him that I answer, happily and without hesitation.  I find that a far more compelling, balanced, and peaceful view of the world and its hope than has ever been voiced by any candidate for any office.

And now, for something completely different.  Here I am entertaining a collection of Chinese tourists in Sydney who mistook me as their tour guide.  They seemed untroubled by the fact that I knew nothing of either Mandarin or the history of the Royal Botanical Gardens.