You're wrong, Mr. President, but I'll pray for you anyway

“The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.” 1 Timothy 1:1-3, The Message

I don't consider myself someone who revels in talking about political matters. It isn't that I don't have opinions – of course, I do. Like so many other people I know, I loathe the negative ads that run like a dirty river right into my home every night regardless of who's behind them. I believe that no one should have the right to kill an innocent human being regardless of the circumstances that brought about the creation of that life. I think leaders whatever their stripe – be they political or religious ones – are meant to serve people not rule over them. I think we have an obligation to help the poor but not at the expense of their own willingness to work. I don't think schools should raise my kids or tell me how to raise them. When my children were young and I thought one of them earned a spanking, I gave it to them regardless if the State of Wisconsin thought I should not. Tough beans. Contrary to what some wise guy in Madison says, fear is good. So, sure, I have political opinions. And for the time being, I'm entitled to them.

But I don't consider myself an expert, either. The only news I watch in the course of a day is the 20 minutes or so of The Today Show that is on while we are all getting breakfast in the morning or from time to time, the 5:30-6:30 p.m. national and local news segments on NBC. Which is why I don't claim to be up on all the issues. I don't have CNN or Fox scrolling on my computer screen throughout the day. When there were all kinds of Republican candidates still in the race, I watched none of the debates. Maybe I should have but I didn't. All I saw were the clips that were rebroadcast the following day. I don't watch Steven Colbert nor the Daily Show nor Huckabee nor any of the programming on MS-NBC. While certain evenings I may have the time to do so, frankly, I just don't have the appetite.

But the other day President Obama did something that to my knowledge no other president has ever done – he spoke out in favor of gay marriage. It's true that VP Joe Biden had beat him to the punch a few days before but whatever the case in stead of pushing back from “Uncle Joe's” comments President Obama essentially told all of us in that May 9 interview, “Me, too.” And all of Hollywood roared with approval. That they did no one is surprised.

Going public on Good Morning, America

The irony is that while he may think he has done something politically courageous those who oppose such an opinion believe he has caved to the most liberal in his camp. In the short term, lots of people think he was real smart for going on the record – after all it apparently didn't hurt him in raising $21 million dollars in just a few days after stating his support for same sex marriage. And while evangelicals may be riled up by his announcement, I'm sure his people did the numbers and figured the most vocal of us are in a definitive minority.

Cocky Locky and Henny Penny

This past week I had a Nigerian pastor stay with us. For the life of him he couldn't understand how a married man with children could embrace such a thing. After all, in chickendom, a rooster always goes for the hen and fights any other rooster who may vie for her affection. “If the animals know right from wrong,” he asked me, “why can't he see it?” He informed me that something like this could not happen in Nigeria. Apparently, shortly after some kind of bill advocating same sex unions was introduced in the equivalent of the Nigerian Senate, there was rioting in the streets and the Church came out in mass to protest the legislation. There was fighting going on in the Senate chamber as well (or so he tells me). The long and short of it was that this bill was dead on arrival. “It will never happen in Nigeria,” my friend insists.

Of course, I don't consider abortion and gay marriage strictly “political” issues, that whatever the people think is right should stand. They are moral issues that must be contended with however in the right way. In saying I'm against homosexual marriage I'm not saying I'm against homosexual people. (Technically, as far as I understand Scripture, there is no one whom the Bible calls a “homosexual.” There are only men or women who, for whatever reason, practice a homosexual lifestyle.) No, I welcome practicing homosexuals to Refuge just like I welcome drug addicts at the Barron County Justice Center to visit us as well. We all come to Jesus the same way – he welcomes us and then, if we're willing, he transforms us from the inside-out (and not the other way round). We remind those who worship at Refuge that we do not hate any – Muslims, drug addicts, alcoholics, thieves, and gay individuals. Let them come. Let them taste and see that the Lord is good.

But what President Obama did the other day is akin to calling something crooked straight (pun accidentally placed). “What God has not created we have no right to create,” says my friend from Nigeria. It's true. In the beginning of all things he created a man and woman and said, “It is very good.” But now the highest executive in the land has said that apparently God is mistaken, that in fact, there are sub-categories that need to be appreciated. I don't know...I don't believe he is the Antichrist but I would be a little nervous if I were him. Newsweek's recent cover of him with a rainbow halo just adds to my queasiness. A symbol that God used to assure a man that he would never destroy the earth by flood again is now flouted by the minority who risks divine judgment by another means.

Here's the point of my rambling. I am not riled up to “rage against the machine.” I have not begun a “Hate Obama” campaign. But my response to his announcement is, “Well, he's gone and done it now. Now, I will really commit to praying for him.” I do want to so commit not just because it is necessary (and clearly it is) but because God calls disciples to pray for all those in authority “to rule well.” I should have been doing it all along anyway. I have to believe that the prayers of millions of followers of Jesus Christ across this country will, ultimately, amount to something significant for our collective future as a nation.