So...since no one else will be blogging about this subject, I thought I'd step up and fill the gap.*  

As I reflect on the passage of the historic healthcare reform bill, I wonder how America's Christians are reacting.  Some thoughts...

To my brothers and sisters on the Left who are rejoicing at the passage of the healthcare reform bill, a gentle reminder:  This bill does nothing to eliminate Christ's mandate for us to personally care for the poor.  If history is any judge, the government will struggle to oversee the massive task they've just voted to put on their own plate.  Bureaucracy, inefficiency, and corruption may well swallow up their good intentions.  We Christians must stand in the gap that's left.

To my brothers and sisters on the Right who are lamenting the passage of this bill, may I gently suggest the possibility that we (I) have failed to live out Christ's directive to care for those less fortunate than us?  Perhaps if we as the Church cared for the poor, marginalized, needy folks in the world as our founder did...then maybe, just maybe...Congress wouldn't have had to step up and do what we were capable of, but refused to do.

I recently read Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution (which I highly recommend) and I thought this excerpt was striking (and applicable to those on both ends of the political spectrum).

It is much more comfortable to depersonalize the poor so we don't feel responsible for the catastrophic human failure that results in someone sleeping on the street while people have spare bedrooms in their homes.  We can volunteer in a social program or distribute excess food and clothing through organizations and never have to open up our homes, our beds, our dinner tables.  When we get to heaven, we will be separated into those sheep and goats Jesus talks about in Matthew 25 based on how we cared for the least among us.  I'm just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, "When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me," or, "When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me."  Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity.  He seeks concrete acts of love: "you fed me...you visited me in prison...you welcomed me into your home...you clothed me."

My life has seldom lived up to Christ's words.  May God have mercy on me and grant me strength to do better.


*That was sarcasm, just in case you didn't catch it.

Barrack Obama, talking about Scott Brown's election to the late Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat:

"Here's my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country. 

The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. 

People are angry, and they're frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

I disagree vehemently with the President on some things, not the least of which is universal healthcare.  However, this is one thing that I agree with him on.  

I have many friends on the Right who would like to hail Scott Brown's election as historic moment that signals a seismic shift away from Obama's vision of America.  I think it's more a statement about America's anger.  We're mad and looking for something to take out our anger on.  Whichever side (Right or Left) that is better able to stir up the anger in its base leading up to election time...is the side that wins.

November could be interesting.


P.S.  For my friends on the Left, you should know that I passed up some pretty good Ted Kennedy jokes/jabs with you guys in mind.  I just wanted you to appreciate that fact.  :)