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If You Want a Better...

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While I was in seminary I drove past the same church every day on my way to and from campus. For a short time their front marquee read “If you want a better Pastor…PRAY for the one you have.” Every time I drove past that sign I thought “duh, shouldn't people already be doing that? What a concept.”

As I silently watched flipping from CNN.com to my Facebook news feed the words of that church sign scrolled through my mind:

“If you want a better Pastor…Pray for the one you have.” 

As I read words like “great…we’re screwed!” or “I’m moving out of the country, I can’t believe this happened.” As well as things like “Take that Romney-better luck NOT next time.” or “4 more years to ‘shut the other guys’ up- GO OBAMA!” (These are all paraphrased as not to call anyone out).  In a country that seemingly prides itself on being Christian, can you tell me where in those statements Christ can be found?

If when you wake up in the morning and lay your head down at night you profess the great confession that Jesus is Christ Lord of your life then no matter how you align yourself politically (right-wing, left-wing, no-wing, half&half-wing, liberal with a twist of conservative or conservative with a twist of liberal, OR something else entirely) your first duty, as a child of God, is to live in a way that reveals the gospel to the world.

A gospel that can be summed up in just a few short words and was oddly enough the lectionary reading for the final week before the election.(here is part of the reading)   
“29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12:29-31 or Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 whichever strikes your fancy).

The words from that church sign are still echoing in my head a little differently but even now I am thinking “duh! That makes sense.”  We pray for all kinds of things- why not the President. Not in a backhanded “I pray he gets sick” or “I pray other terrible things happen.” But an honest to goodness prayer that he (The President of the United States of America) will lead the country to the best of his God given abilities, seeking God’s guidance and grace.

Dear Citizens of The United States of America-
“If you want a better President…PRAY for the one you have.”
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