Who's afraid of election day?

I have been a bit saddened by the amount and degree of angst shown by Christians over the election this year. (And it seems like there is a similar amount of Chicken Little-ing every election cycle.) I think many Christians may be burdening themselves with an unreasonable set of expectations. If we think America is going to be the embodiment of the kingdom of God, I have to ask where we got that idea. I don't see it written in Scripture that any human society, other than ancient Israel perhaps, is expected to embody the kingdom of God. Jesus seemed to view human governments from a fairly neutral standpoint. "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's..." It's okay if there is a Caesar, and it even seems to be okay if Caesar doesn't give a rip about the God of Israel. The bottom line is that we have to trust that no matter what things look like, God has not removed his providential hand from the tiller. He continues to steer a course as he sees fit.

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Scott Daniels, pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena ("Paznaz"). Sunday he said something to his congregation that pretty much sums up how I feel about election day: "No matter what happens Tuesday, we will still be the church on Wednesday." In other words, God's presence and purposes will go on no matter who is in office and what laws get passed. God's kingdom is not synonymous with -- or dependent on -- human governments.

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