Politics and Partisanship

Today we’re going to think about love not as the relationship between two people, but more as an approach to working for the common good. And ‘working for the common good’ is another way to describe politics. So look at this passage and read it through the lens of politics/working-for-the-common-good:

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:7

That verse looks a little different through that lens, doesn’t it? Now let’s press it a little further.

On Sunday, Dave Neumann read this quote about politics. Take a few moments and reflect on it. What’s standing out to you? Is this how you view love? (Why or why not?) Talk to Jesus about what’s standing out to you.

Politics is impossible to avoid if you follow that Jesus. But partisanship? Jesus was never a supporter of a religious or political party insofar that we know. We do know, however, that Jesus was partisan. He was partisan toward love. He was partisan for women and children, sinners of all sorts, toward the ill and the mentally challenged, slaves and poorly paid workers and soldiers, those in mean estate, and those under the boot of authoritarianism. He was partisan for outsiders and outcasts and people without banquet invitations, toward those who broke the rules for the sake of others, toward peacemakers and the persecuted and heartbroken. Love is not apolitical. It is the most political - and even the most partisan - thing there is. And it always brings you to your knees. - Diana Butler Bass