How Not To Read The Bible During a Contentious Election
Do NOT read the bible for what it has to say to people you don't like, don't agree with, or for whom you don't intend to vote. Listen to what it has to say to you and for you! Listen for what God is offering you and asking of you.
That is something I have found extremely difficult during this contentious presidential election cycle. I read the bible prayerfully almost every morning. But for months, all I could see was how it applied to others.
I know from experience with lectio divina that the meaning of the text should be personal! The phase of lectio divina identified as "Reflection" (meditatio) is a movement from 1) what the text says to 2) what it means theologically and for spirituality, to 3) the personal implications for my life right now. This personal significance constitutes God's word to me, what he desires for me, Michael Palandro. And prayer (oratio) becomes my heartfelt response to God's invitation.
Part of the problem was that I had become obsessed with information about the election, the candidates, and the country. I became fearful and hopeless for the country's future and the church's future if I am honest. Despite what I know from Scripture, I lost my focus and perspective. I didn't realize that a shift had occurred in my fundamental orientation as a person. The larger story that now framed and fueled my hopes, desires, and fears was the story of our nation. A narrative that is too small and temporal to be the center of value, meaning, and purpose in my life. The nation's story was undeserving of the havoc it was creating in my heart and mind, and my relationships inside and outside the church.
Recently God used the Scriptures to remind me that the story that gives meaning and purpose to my life, that frames my orientation to the world, and shapes my way of being in the world is the overarching story of what God is doing in Christ. I began to remember that the only enduring Kingdom is God's!
During a lectio divina exercise, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT) caught my attention.
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.
I knew I was being re-oriented when I found encouragement from a line in the book, Resident Aliens.
The church exists today as resident aliens, an adventurous colony in a society of unbelief."
To be part of an adventurous colony felt liberating! Of course, the world is in conflict and chaos. But God is working his plan to heal his people, the nations, and the entire cosmos. And we have been invited to that adventure. That story gives me hope and is worthy of my devotion and allegiance. I can't wait to see what Christ will do in America.
That same day, I remembered an article by Sallie McFague in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology. In the article, McFague described conversion as an invitation to "life on the edge of a raft." I once rode through a few category-four rapids on a white-water rafting trip. It was exhilarating, tense, and the outcome felt a little uncertain. We didn't celebrate until we were through it. We then braced ourselves with hope and a little trepidation because downriver, there was another rapid just like it. Comparing the Christian adventure to white-water rafting, McFague suggests that "it is courage not comfort, risk and not security, (and) vulnerability to the transcendent. . . that are the hallmarks of the Christian life."
I am not saying that God doesn't speak to me about politics, society, culture, or the church. I am saying that when I am reading Scripture with lectio divina, I believe God is often concerned with addressing who I am and my way of seeing and being in the world. Only then will I be free enough to partner with Christ in our nation.
I am confident that if we keep practicing lectio divina, in due time, God will give us the grace to hear his word for ourselves and free us to live with Christ on the edge of the raft.
