In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, Michael Danner considers what it means to live and interact with the government as an Anabaptist followers of Jesus.
Michael Danner is Mennonite Church USA’s associate executive director for Church Vitality. Prior to serving in this role, Michael served as conference minister for Illinois Mennonite Conference. He also has 20 years of experience as a local church pastor, serving 17 of those years as pastor of Metamora Mennonite Church in Illinois. Michael has served in the areas of Christian education, youth ministry, worship and preaching/teaching. His passion is helping local congregations thrive through speaking, writing, training and coaching. Michael has a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology degree from Northern Seminary, Lombard, Illinois, a master’s degree in Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, and a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Illinois in Urbana.
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In the United States of America, we hold presidential elections every four years. These elections determine executive leadership for the following four years and, depending on one’s perspective, engender fear or hope or something else entirely.
The 2024 presidential election was no exception.
As Anabaptist followers of Jesus, we rightly understand that the people who win elections matter and can have a deep impact on ordinary people. And we can easily fall into one of two errors: thinking the government has so much power that it can solve intractable problems or thinking it has so little power that it can’t impact anything. Neither is the case. Good leadership matters, and so does bad leadership. How do we tell the difference?
Too often, Anabaptist followers of Jesus fall into the same trap as others in our culture. We pick a team from the players on the field — usually Democrats and Republicans — and we adopt their positions as correct, while presuming the other team is wrong. It is rarely this simple or clear, however. Some even take the step of “sanctifying” a party’s positions as Christian, irrespective of how well they align with the teaching of Jesus.
There has to be a better way!
I find that national presidential elections provide a great opportunity to remind myself of a few important things relative to my life, faith and relationship to the government.
First, take your cues from Jesus. Followers of Jesus do not take their cues from political party platforms. The platform for Jesus’ people is Jesus’ life and teaching. The best summary of that platform is the Sermon on the Mount.[1] In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus us tells us how to live with one another, and he says we are wise builders, when we put his words into practice.
Second, Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.[2] As his followers, we do not need the permission of governments to do that. We can do both, right here and right now. Even though we are tempted to believe we are powerless in the face of governmental power — and in significant ways we are — we are not wholly without power, especially in our local communities.
Third, we live intentionally, preparing so that we can respond to others, as Jesus did. Like margins in a book or on a piece of paper, our lives need to have some free space that can be used to respond to the needs of others. This can be space in our homes, space in our schedules, resources and so on that allow us to be present with others in their times of need.
Fourth, we consider others more important than ourselves.[3] We are not here to be served but to serve — just like Jesus. How can I help? The world will not be better, if we don’t do better, starting at home and emanating out from there.
Fifth, we participate as co-creators in God’s shalom. Shalom is the Hebrew word for salvation, justice and peace.[4] The world we see is not the world as God intended. How can the choices we make every day help build God’s shalom? How can the decisions we make work against God’s shalom? Following Jesus means understanding that our choices have consequences, and we are called to make choices that build a more shalom-filled world.
What this looks like, of course, will be more or less difficult, depending on a host of other factors. One of the factors is who has power and how it is exercised. If the government is acting to support the good, it is more possible to live quiet and peaceful lives. However, if the government is acting in ways that hurt people, especially vulnerable people, it can require more costly choices.
In the 16th century, Mennonites became known as “the quiet in the land.” This referred to arrangements made between Mennonite communities and local governments, whereby Mennonites would live apart and refrain from stirring up trouble and, in exchange, the government leaders would leave them alone.[5] While that option was an attractive one during that period, today, the option of being the “quiet in the land” is an option for some people but not others.
Shalom is more than an idea, it is a social condition, whereby all people, in all places and always, have all that they need to thrive as God’s children. What is most challenging about shalom is this: Until all people have it, nobody does. It is not enough for particular people to enjoy the absence of violence and the presence of life-giving resources. Until all people have that experience, there is work to do.
I do not know who you voted for in the presidential election. What I do know is that no matter who you voted for, how you are called to live as a follower of Jesus does not change.
“If our life in Christ means anything to you – if love, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness or sympathy can persuade you at all – then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing that would make [Paul] completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit, but everybody is to be humble: value others over yourselves, each of you thinking of the interests of others before your own. Your attitude must be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
“Christ, though in the image of God, didn’t deem equality with God something to be clung to – but instead became completely empty and took on the image of oppressed humankind: born into the human condition, found in the likeness of a human being. Jesus was thus humbled – obediently accepting death, even death on a cross! Because of this, God highly exalted Christ and gave to Jesus the name above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God: Jesus Christ reigns supreme!” (Philippians 2:1-11).
Every four years, American’s have a presidential election. May it serve as a reminder of the Jesus we follow and what that demands of us.
[1] Matthew 5:1-7:28.
[2] Matthew 22:34 – 40.
[3] Philippians 2.
[4] I recommend Perry Yoder’s book, “Shalom: The Bible’s Word for Salvation, Justice and Peace,” as a good introduction.
[5] A good starting point is “The Quiet in the Land: Grassroots Peacemaking Among Mennonites” by Jayne Janzen.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
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