Thoughts on Obama

MY CONVICTION
I was really glad that I listened to President Obama's entire speech and questions last night, not only because it put me in tune with the direction of our nation, but also because I was hugely convicted to do something I have never felt the need for. I am committed to praying for our President. Christians seemed to find this easy to do for GW, who supposedly had the spiritual support of his faith to guide him. How much more, then, does this leader need prayer?
I realized as I listened to all of the problems the world is expecting Obama to solve that this man needs wisdom each and every second of each and every day. And this is not worldly wisdom that I'm talking about. This man needs God's wisdom.
God can use any man and any thing to do His will. Christian or not, if Obama is going to make wise decisions for our country, he needs those decisions to come from God. It occurred to me last night how huge an impact his actions will have on the present and the future, and I was deeply convicted. This is a man who needs our daily prayer - not just for his soul, but also that God would work through Him as only God can, to bring about in this country His divine will.
I'm not looking for an argument on Obama's spiritual status, nor do I feel a need to make a judgment on this. I do not agree with many, many, many things that Obama stands for - abortion and stem cell research and social healthcare among them. But what I have noticed is that Obama is a thinking man, blessed with great powers of reasoning, and that he is open to listen and learn and slow to make a decision because he wants to seriously consider what is best in each situation. This is a man who needs prayer.
WHAT HIT HOME
This passage from Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew" struck me last night when I was listening to President Obama field questions regarding health care and homelessness:
The story of Lazaras and the rich man "sank deep into the consciousness of early Christians, many of whom belonged to lower economic classes.... For a while, the church worked hard to follow this new logic, and as a result, early Christians were renowned within the Roman Empire for their support of the poor and suffering... when plague hit, the Christians tended their sufferers whereas the pagans abandoned the sick at the first symptoms. For the first few centuries, at least, the church took literally Christ's commands to receive strangers, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit those in prison.... According to church historians, this good work continued until the triumph of Constantine, who legalized the faith and established an official imperial church. From that point on the church tended to spiritualize poverty and leave 'welfare' to the emperor. Over time the church itself became part of the wealthy establishment."
There is no doubt that Obama inherited plenty of crises in his early Presidency, and last night was a time for him to talk about some of what he feels should be done to combat these things. But as he started to talk about the importance of socialized health care and how to deal with homeless children and families all around our nation, something just clicked in me. Where is the church?
Recently, I shared a very real need in my own fellowship for a friend who needs help finding a safe place to live as she battles through cancer and attempts to care for her premature infant son. She is black and my fellowship is white. She has been in jail for a crime she committed and a murder she was acquitted of while my fellowship is full of law-abiding citizens. She has a bad habit of lying and hasn't been much of a mother to her other four children, who are from various fathers, things that my fellowship frowns upon.
The overwhelming response from my fellowship was that of self-preservation; they were not going to involve themselves with assisting this unsavory character, and I really shouldn't be either. I had, first, the accusation that somehow assisting this woman and her baby would bring harm upon my own baby, which was merely evidence of extreme ignorance; and second, a suggestion that this type of person was why public housing exists.
That really got me thinking, especially coupled with the above passage from Yancey and the way our nation looks to our President to solve the problems of health care and homelessness. My friend is why public housing exists?! I thought she was why the church exists! And, understand this, my church is generally a very loving and giving body; yet even in my small congregation, we have become dependent on the government to do the church's work. Even further, we have become dependent on the government to raise and educate our children, to judge our arguments among each other, to dictate our morality - and I'm still talking about the church!
Why is Obama looking at the homeless population as a crisis for him to solve? If the church were doing it's job as Christ COMMANDED, would this problem reside on the government? At the very least, wouldn't it be an amazing thing for a reporter to say, "Mr. President, what do you think should be done about the homeless population?" and for Obama to be able to respond, "Well, I think we have a pretty good example on how to handle this problem when we look at what all these churches have been doing. There are some great programs out there that we could support as a government." Or how about, "what homeless population?" (Didn't the church in Acts share all possessions so that no one had need - and wouldn't that include their homes?)
When I think about how my church has essentially rejected my friend (having never met her, mind you) it makes me realize how very far away we have come as a body from the example that Christ left for us to follow. Yancey goes on to say the church has become a place for the very types of people who rejected Jesus during His ministry on earth, whereas the people whom Christ would have associated with are intentionally kept out of fellowship. It's a lot to think about, but I for one do not want to be one more person who relies on the government to do what God has left for me as my work. I want to raise and educate my child; I want to continue to help my neighbor and other needs that God will equip me to meet as He brings them across my path; and I want to pray for our President.