07.27.08; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lesson: Romans 8:26-39
I’m an fairly engaged politics fan, and follow politics in much the same way that some fans follow football or baseball or professional team foosball. Even for me, though, I find myself asking the question: how long has this Presidential Election season been going on again? After a nearly endless primary season, it seems like we’ve going through the high drama of election year politics for the past three years.
And it is drama. It is, although so many Americans seem unable to get into it, choosing instead to focus their mental energies on whatever mean remarks Miley Cyrus is making on YouTube about her ex-boyfriend. Any competition is drama, and unlike the mindless catty nothingness of celebro-tainment, American politics has behind it control of the most powerful nation on earth. Every election year, we have no idea how things are going to work out, and with so much at stake and an uncertain outcome, how could it not be engaging. You watch the polls and the polls of polls, see the candidates rise and fall in favor, and one is almost never entirely sure at the end of the day who’s going to come out on top. The results are as secret, as hidden from our eyes, as the ballots that we all cast on election day.
It’s that mystery, that uncertainty about what might happen at the end of the day, that makes life seem interesting, and that makes participating in the democratic process such a vital and important things for hobbyist policy geeks like me.
Elections aren’t always that way. Take, for instance, another election that will take place in the next month. On August 5, 2008, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will hold it’s parliamentary elections. The citizens of North Korea will flow to the polls to vote for members of their Supreme People’s Assembly. Following that election, members of the Supreme People’s Assembly will themselves elect the Chairman of the National Defense Commission, the country’s chief executive.
When the people of North Korea vote, they do get a choice. They can either vote for a member of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, or...not. There are no other choices. There is no drama, any more than there is any drama in the “election” of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. Everything is already decided, which means the election comes across as...well...neither fair nor real. That’s mostly because it’s not. It’s a farce.
We know that democracy, real democracy, looks absolutely nothing like the elections in North Korea, and that just putting “democratic” and “republic” in the name of your country don’t mean either of those things is true. How can an election be real if there’s no choice involved?
That, in a roundabout way, brings us to today’s snippet from the Book of Romans. It’s an unusually rich passage, full of soaring language and passion. Here Paul tells us about the role the Holy Spirit plays when we ourselves can’t pray, interceding for us with sighs too deep for words.
It also serves up perhaps the most challenging teaching ever to whup us Christians upside the head: Paul’s oh-so-brief “teaching” about the elect and predestination. In the event that you’ve not had the good pleasure to be exposed to this before, let me play it out there for you.
Who are the elect? They’re the folks chosen by God to be in relationship with God. Generally, most churches and most Christians interpret this to mean “themselves,” and then assume that pretty much everyone else...and especially the people we’ve decided we don’t like...are the “unelect.” We know who those people are, and we’re sure God doesn’t like ‘em.
What does predestination mean? Well, it basically means God's foreknowledge of all of our actions, of all action, of everything and anything that has occurred or will occur. We've got this image of God carefully writing out all of the code for the universe before installing it on His Almighty Laptop and clicking on the Install Button. But that way of thinking is silly. Time is meaningless to God. All of time rests before God as an Eternal Now.
We generally don’t like this idea at all. It messes with our desire to be the master of our own domain. We want to be the ones making choices. We want to be the ones who control our own destiny, who get to make the decisions that will determine whether we’re down wit’ Jesus or way down in Satan’s Authentic Country Style Hickory Pit Barbecue. It’s Sinnerlicious!
We also tend to get cheesed off at the idea that God might somehow know who’s on the naughty and nice list even before we’ve had a chance to be bad or good. Why would God make people, knowing they’re going to mess up? That’s not fair! What would be the point of doing anything? It makes all of life seem like a fix, as false and unreal as the upcoming election in North Korea.
Though we might respond that way to some of the language Paul uses, that would be missing the point Paul is making. Before he uses those tricky words, in verse 28 Paul tells his audience that all things work together for good for those who love God. After he’s finished using those tricky words, Paul’s speech soars up to rhythmic heights...and he says basically the same thing. Nothing...nothing...can separate you from the love of God if you truly seek him.
All Paul is talking about here is God's limitlessness. Well, actually, that’s not true. Paul is speaking of God’s limitless power *and* God’s limitless love. And all Paul is asking his listeners to do in response to that love is have faith in it. Sure, your life is hard. Sure, things have gotten difficult. But none of those things can separate you from God.
For those who use “predestination” to be judgmental about others, they miss the point. God’s desire for all of our futures and for all of our nows is love, joy, and justice. It is up to us to live into that grace.
For those who can’t stand the loss of choice that it seems to entail, it’s a little more difficult. On the one hand, we have been created as free beings, made in the image of God and fully able to choose God freely. On the other, God knows what those choices are before they are even made. If we say we aren’t free, then we’re nothing more than robots, going through the motions. If we say that God lacks awareness of creation, then God ceases to be God. Somehow, the two must exist together. How? Well, when I learn how to see past, present and future all together as one moment, I’ll be sure to let you know. Till then, what we have is faith.
The point and purpose of predestination is trust. The reason behind election is trust. You have to trust that in the secrecy of that time before time, God has chosen you to play a role in His Kingdom. Doesn’t matter who you were. Doesn’t matter if the world declared you lost or chosen.
In Christ, that vote has been cast in your favor.
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