A Purple Nation

I have a bit of an unusual fascination with Election Day. It is not unusual that I would care about the election or who wins, but it is very unusual the amount of anticipation I would have as a kid for Election Day. I remember being a 10 year old and a 14 year old staying up all night looking at this red and blue map, completely engaged in this process that is Democracy. I think part of the allure of Election Day for me is that it often falls on my birthday. So there is a connection. Some years I get a really cool birthday gift from the people of the United States. But this red and blue map has evolved with the times. It is much more than a simple indicator for who had the most votes in a particular state; it has now become an amazing analysis tool. CNN had the ability this last election to dissect election results all the way down to particular districts and show the demographic breakdown of exactly who was voting for each candidate. Talk about adding to my engagement level. My wife didn't realize that there is actually a time that I do not watch ESPN on TV.

But this map has also created a disturbing paradigm. Now, entire states are being designated as “blue states” and “red states”. And with those designations, there is an implication to the beliefs and values of the people within that state. If you are “red state” people then you have certain beliefs, and if you are “blue state” people then you have other certain beliefs. And there is no wiggle room. If you fall in line with one side or the other, than you have to be willing to take on all of the values that go with your particular color. Think about the Tea Party experiment taking place right now. You have folks from a particular party actually voting out people from their own party because they do not match the entire checklist of beliefs. It is an interesting phenomenon to say the least.

So why is this so disturbing? Well because I believe that the political color designations do not work for someone who has chosen to follow Jesus. As a person who follows Jesus, we have to recognize and own truth wherever we find it. We are not defined by the beliefs of a political party or color, we are defined by the values of the Kingdom of God. So this means on some issues we fall in line with the values associated with the “red states”, but on other issues we will fall in line with the values associated with the “blue states”. Jesus called us to anticipate the coming of His Kingdom and to work to make that coming happen. We are to put our hope and our trust in Him, not in a political party. If you truly believe that this is a Christian nation, then you would not have red and blue states, that impressive CNN map would be completely purple. Because as a follower of Jesus, you can hold tightly to the value of life, and at the same time believe in the importance of helping the least of these as Jesus called us to do. We can believe that we should be good stewards with our money, and at the same time be concerned for God’s creation. We would have the ability to take a little of the red and to take a little of the blue and realize that our beliefs are actually purple.

As Christians, we cannot be afraid to engage in the political process. It is important to have a voice in that conversation. But that voice is not a conservative one or a liberal one necessarily, it is a Christian one. Let us not tune in to political talk radio or TV and listen to the obnoxious know-it-alls to decide what we should believe. Let us read the bible, and listen to the words of Jesus for what we should believe. Because if we did that, then we could get rid of those red and blue states, and we could actually focus on painting this nation purple.