Pastor's Corner_Dec11-Jan12
Reflections on the 2012 Elections
Promises, Promises, Promises - Political platforms used by Politicians posturing themselves for potentially serving in an elected office. Elections are filled with promises coming from politicians who seek presidential power. While this is true as all levels of the political spectrum, it is especially true for those who would seek the office of the President of a nation.
Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to engage in political discussions concerning the nations of Guatemala, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and of course the United States. I was with a team of Pastors in Guatemala in October and led a team from our church to Sierra Leone in November.
While in Guatemala, we talked about the presidential race and the platforms of the two main candidates. The candidates both pledged to move their country forward and promised more economic stability and power. Subsequent to my visit, the nation of Guatemala has elected a new president; a retired right-wing general called Otto Perez and he will be the first military man to take power since democracy was restored in 1986. Perez has promised a crackdown on violent crime and to protect the country from Mexican drug cartels.
While in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, we talked about the recent election in the neighboring country of Liberia. The incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was declared the winner of the run-off on the 15th November 2011. She pledged to promote reconciliation in a country that has been plagued with war over the last four decades.
In November 2012, as the people of the United States (re-)elects its president, the people of Sierra Leone will also go to the polls to elect its president. The President is elected by direct popular vote for a 5-year term. The people of Sierra are prayerful that the stability they have enjoyed for the last five years will continue under the leadership of their president.
Guatemala is said to be the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Both Liberia and Sierra Leone possess some of the world’s most valuable natural resources (gold, iron, gems and oil), yet over 70% of its people live below the poverty line.
What’s interesting to note here is that all three of these countries leaders have not made a promise to eradicate poverty and provide national assistance to the poor. Maybe it is because these countries have gotten comfortable with the “haves” and the “have nots.”
What fascinates me, however, is that the topics of poverty and the poor are not only missing from the platforms and promises of the leaders of the three aforementioned developing nations, these topics seem to be missing from the political platforms of our nation.
As Christians, church leaders and pastors, this should be one of our foremost priorities, second only to the salvation of person’s soul. After all, Jesus began His political career with this priority in mind. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”(Luke 4:18-19, NIV)
With these words, Jesus announced a new world order. Is there any wonder that Jesus ended up nailed to a cross at the hands of the religious and political authorities? Jesus announced that big changes were coming and this was frightening for those whose comfort depended upon maintaining the inequality of the social arrangement which was in effect.
I wonder have we gotten so concerned with Wall Street and economic prosperity that we have forgotten about the 46.2 million Americans that are now living in poverty. America is fundamentally changing. We were a nation that had the largest middle class in the history of the globe, but now we are becoming a nation that is deeply divided between the “haves” and the “have nots.”
As we move into 2012, I will be listening to and echoing the candidates that have concern for the least among us. Will you?