I have been traveling in Norway, which, until quite recently, had a state church. Lutheran bishops were actually government appointees and civil servants. Appointments were often political - perhaps in terms of personal ambition and connection, but also to make points, as in liberal governments inflicting progressive bishops on conservative regions, and vice versa.
It is hard to imagine how clergy might maintain an authentic prophetic voice, "speaking truth to power," as the cliche goes, when "power" is signing your paycheck. On the other hand, in that system, the state also supports the churches. Perhaps a pastor is freer to speak truth to his or her congregation if not relying upon its largesse for daily bread. Religious and civic life exist in essential, overlapping, but basically distinct realms. Human societies seem to do best when those two realms exist in creative tension, somewhat equally balanced in power and influence. We go off the rails, it seems, if either becomes too dominant - especially, I'm sorry to say, when it's religion that tries to run the show.
This week we are exploring how best to live in the tension of our dual citizenship, how to reflect the values of heaven on earth, and hold up the needs of earth before the power of heaven. How do you feel called to live in that creative tension? How might you invite the power of the Holy Spirit to work through you in secular endeavors?
Might we make a discipline of praying for our political leaders, not just in church on Sundays, but on our own during the week? You might create a prayer list lifting a different leader or set of leaders in prayer each day.
It's easy to get disgusted with governments; let's wield the spiritual power we've been given as well as our civic freedoms, being engaged citizens and prayer warriors.
That might be the healthiest way for church and state to mingle... In us.
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