my title

The New Class

This is the temporary name that is given to the Sunday school class I go to at my new church here in Clarksville. I have only been there twice but I can already tell it is going to affect my daily life. In fact, it's the reason I started blogging. The class is reading "Jesus for President" by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. After sitting through today's class I realized that the name "the New class" was going to stick in my mind even if it changed in the bulletin. This 'new' class is something that I've heard people talking about for the last 4 years. It is the Christian version of a grassroots political movement. It is a 'new' way to view money, neighbors, relationships, traditions, and the church.

Today we talked about the spectrum of politics. This is not Republican and Democrat. It is the activity Christians should be involved with politics. So many people have a fear of not knowing the right answer so they simply stray from politics. As well, there are people who grease themselves with politics and are simply allowing this to be the center of their lives. So where should a Christian place themselves?

There is a line between faith and politics. However, in the U.S. it tends to be a faint line. We are stuck in a society that has every politician (Republicans and yes even Democrats) claiming a faith of Christianity. How can this contradict itself so much! I know that the Bible can be interpreted differently and that is theology. On the other hand, how the hell do we let our Party ID become our religion? How can this 'faith' be rooted in our vote?

Claiborne writes, "When Jesus said, 'you cannot serve two masters,' he meant that in serving one, you destroy your relationship to the other."

Tony Compolo puts it, "Mixing the church and state is like mixing ice cream with cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream."

I am not stating that we should be apathetic toward government - at all. In fact, I think we should become vocal and active. This is not a 'new' thought friends. We need to be knowledgeable about our faith and our government. Knowing the bill of rights and ten commandments is not good enough!

I am not sure what to do.

By writing this and continuing to read this book, the Bible, and by watching the news, I intend to come up with some answers.... or at least more questions.