Some election thoughts - Rector's Rambling for November 9, 2014

As I sit here in my office, writing this column, I hear playing on a distant radio the last flurry of political commercials.  By the time you read this column, the election will be over and all that television and radio ad space will be filled with pitches for cars and pharmaceutical products rather than rants and accusations for or against this person or that.

I studied Political Science as an undergraduate.  In a perfect scenario, a man interested in being a priest would do his undergraduate studies in Philosophy and perhaps Classics.  But I spent the first few years of my college studies NOT wanting to be a priest (even though I had sensed a calling from the age of 7 onward).  Political Science interested me, and I immersed myself in the study of international issues between the US and Soviet bloc, particularly nuclear weapon policy, as well as a growing interest in local city government (in Philadelphia).  I thought perhaps I had a future in city politics, or perhaps with the state department.

God had other plans.  And I know that quite frequently, when asked what I studied in college, people are surprised to hear “political science”.  But in some ways that study was a good preparation for ministry.

Although the election season can be the ugly side of politics, the majority of politics is the way in which people interact and share differing philosophies in order to best govern.  If done with good, honest, and noble intention, it can be a decent thing, and blessed by our Lord Himself.

Of course, the problem is that human beings, regardless of political affiliation, are affected by original sin.  We are frequently selfish, self-seeking, and sometimes nasty.  Politics can bring out the worst in us.  But ultimately we are to, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”  Psalms 146:3, 4

All this will pass away, and we will pass away.  Let us put first the things that are eternal: Jesus Christ our Lord and God!