9.20.24 My Faith and My Politics

 I was a Christian long before I became political ... God was in my life from the beginning ... I knew that ... a Presence, kind and loving, always there, for little Tommy Eggebeen.

I was a Christian long before I became political.

And when I became political, it flowed out of my heart, full of the Christ that lived, and still lives, in my heart.

Was I good little boy?

Hardly ... and I'm still far from good ... but God is as close to me as ever ... "I am with you always!" ... and that's the light of my life, it's my hope, and my peace, in the midst of this and that and everything else.

My commitment to Democracy grows out of my earliest commitments to Christ ... my sense of compassion for the bruised and the beaten flows from the love and grace of Christ ... my commitment to good government working for all the people flows from God's creation purpose - a love for all, a desire to redeem and make everything new ... can I be any less in my world view than God?

All that I am politically flows from all that I have always been in Christ, "before the foundation of the world" ... primordially, eternally, and infinitely.

I was, and am, and will be a Christian, by the grace of God, the very same grace I believe embodied in our best dreams and highest virtues ... 

I've a long way to go, and so does my nation, and on this side of the great divide of time and eternity, we may never fully reach the goal, but I'm not about to give up, I'm not about to surrender my values, I'm not about to go backward into the darkness, but forward into the light.

So help me God ... Father, Son and Holy Spirit ... Mother, Daughter, and Divine Love ... Creator, Redeemer, and Giver of Life ... Above, Within, and Beyond.

I Am a Democrat

I'm a Democrat.

I made that decision when D and I registered for our first Presidential election: 1968.
I was in my last year of seminary.

Then and now, the values of the Democratic Party align with my Christian faith ...

My parents were Republicans, though politics never seemed to be much on our minds ... nor that of my friends.

I recall no political discussion, though I remember JFK's assassination ... it was deeply moving ... and we all watched the TV.

College days freed me from my racism ... in seminary, I changed my view on the Vietnam war and came to oppose it.

My first ministry in the storied hills of West Virginia gave me an experience, deep and disturbing, with poverty and the cruelty of the coal companies.

Throughout my years, I've supported labor unions, civil rights, marriage equality and women's rights. These things all arise and flow out of my faith, my reading of Scripture, and the larger Christian Tradition. This is how it shakes out for me.

Humans are sinners, I know that.
So nothing and no one is a pure shining light.
But this much I know.
The Democratic Party over the years, beginning with FDR, has consistently fought for The People.

I guess I could resign from the political and simply pray.
I could refrain from voting.
But Jeremiah encourages the refugees in a "foreign land," to go about their everyday lives and seek the welfare of the nation in which they now live.

I think it's my Christian duty to be engaged in the life of my nation, and that means I have to make choices, and, as Bonhoeffer noted, rarely is the choice between good and bad, but between good and good, and bad and bad. It's messy and unpredictable, but for me, I have no choice but to be engaged.

To know myself, my values and hopes.
And to bring those to the public square.

I am devoted to The People.
Because I am devoted to Christ.