Fallen Into Knowledge

The church is, in a real sense, an alternative political reality. When we say that Jesus is our King, we are making - at the very least - a political claim. We are God’s people, in some sense, The Kingdom of God, or Heaven (Jesus uses both phrases in the Gospels to denote roughly the same thing). And while we might differ as to the content of our agenda, as a politcal body the church has an agenda which may or may not be opposed to america’s political agenda. Some of the churches politcal commitments: expanding our numbers, countering injustice, being an advocate for the oppressed (in the Bible, the widowed and the orphaned), and being an Eden/Heaven-valued people. The key here, for me, is that my allegance is to Jesus; further, I use my rights as an american citizen to “smooth the path,” as it were, for the churches political agenda. Notice I did not say that I vote toward “christianizing” america, or that I use my votes to combat immorality, but that I vote so as to make the world a place wherein the church can more easily live out it’s purpose. Worship, missions, social justice, catholicity (ecumenical-ism); which canidate will make the world a place where we (the church) can do these things most easily?
I think the answer to that question is John Kerry. I percieve that this world grows ever smaller and it is increasingly more important (for the church, from the perspective of missions) for countries to work together and not autonomously from each other. On a global scale, the biggest perpetrators of social injustice are not nation-states (like N. Korea, poor though that situation is) but multi-national corperations, whole reach is global.
Not only that, but I am also concerned that, for much of the world, rightly or wrongly (wrongly, I would hope), Americans are equated with Christians. This equation does the church no good. Firstly, the church transcends national, geographical boundaries, and this sort of thinking (both by americans as well as by others) divides us. Secondly, when the world thinks in this way, they become confused about what the church is really about: When we (americans) think this way, we also become confused about what we are about (it makes little sense, for example, to demand moral behavior from those who are not first committed to the God by whose character the morality is derived).
Instead, what I hope for, and dream of, is a Church, catholic, as a body politic whose citizens occupy every nation in the world, and whose citizens embody the values and characteristics of thier King, and whose citizens envision and act out a world being redeemed and being renewed by means of their King acting through them. I vote to make the world a place where this vision is more likely to obtain.
(wow. I just went off. sorry, and thanks for listening, feel free to comment in a Christianly manner.)