Worship and politics; you rarely see these two words in the same sentence. Andy Flannagan does, but he has the privilege of leading worship in Parliament. With a national election approaching, he considers whether, on a deeper conceptual level, there really is a connection?
Worship is fundamentally about who we bow the knee to. We may worship at the altar of celebrity, career or family. We may worship at the altar of self. But who or what we worship is given authority in our lives whether we are aware of it or not. And if that object of worship is not God, we will be sorely disappointed. Look at the frustration that abounds in the UK at the moment about politics and politicians. Are we looking in the wrong direction for what we need?
One of our most common mistakes as human beings is believing that political authority is the ultimate authority. The scale of weapons systems, the grandeur of parliaments, and the media’s obsessive gaze fool us into thinking that politics is all important. Don’t get me wrong, I believe it is important. In fact my job is convincing Christians that they should get involved in politics. But we need to see it in context.
Give to Caeser What is Caesar’s
One day while Jesus was teaching, a group of Pharisees tried to trap him by asking: ‘Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?’ (Matt 22:17). What they are really saying is: ‘are you a revolutionary – someone opposed to Roman rule; or are you a compromiser – someone who supports Roman rule?’ This is a common trap for any Christian in politics.
The response Jesus gives is devastatingly brilliant. He ignores their flattery, exposes their hypocrisy, and refuses to be tricked into giving a simplistic answer. Jesus reminds us of the way things really are, and what’s really important. He says: ‘Give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Jesus reminds us that we should not confuse temporary earthly power with God - the eternal heavenly power. Jesus firmly places all politics, and all government, under God’s authority.
This passage has been used unhelpfully in the past to drive a wedge between the secular and the sacred, between the political and the spiritual. But here is the crucial mistake. When we talk about what is ‘God’s and what is ‘Caesar’s we are not talking about two separate realms where one has jurisdiction in the sacred and one has jurisdiction in the secular.
Caesar has a small delegated area of authority within the context of God’s overall authority. God has an opinion on everything including taxes because he is in authority over all of it. Jesus reiterated this when he told Pilate that he would have no authority unless ‘it had been given to you from above’.
Psalm 24 says that ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’ This clearly must include shipping forecasts, Hadron colliders, the life cycles of moths, and party politics.
‘There is no part of our existence, cultural, political, historical or communal which is not called, through conversion, to become the stuff of which the Kingdom of God is being fashioned.’ Jane Collier
So it is so important for Christians to be involved in politics. And it is perhaps more important for politicians than anyone else to be on their faces in worship. We need to be constantly reminded of where our delegated authority comes from. When you hold power, it is an easy temptation to believe that you are the source of the power. You don’t need me to tell you of all the carnage that has sprung from that presumption in human history.
God in Parliament
The very fabric of parliament attempts to underline this source of authority.There are angels looking down on parliamentarians from every angle in many parts of the palace. There is a huge, dramatic painting of a very early piece of legislation hanging at the top of Westminster Hall. It depicts Moses receiving the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written.
Even if you have never been inside Parliament, you may well have heard the chimes of Big Ben.. Interestingly what it is ringing out to the Palace of Westminster and much of the surrounding area is the tune of an old hymn:
‘O Lord our God,
Be thou our guide.
And by thy power,
No foot shall slide.’
Again a tangible reminder for those with ears to hear, that there is a higher authority at work, whose wisdom is open and available if only we would seek it.
If I am bringing people into the Houses of Parliament I always get them to pray with me in the middle of the central lobby. At that point you can look one way and see the throne from which the Queen delivers her speech in the House of Lords, and look the other way and see the famous green leather of the Speaker’s chair in the House of Commons. Best of all, if you look downwards you can see Latin inscribed in the border of the rose-piece tile arrangement on the floor. It is Psalm 127:1 – ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.’ There right in the foundations, at the very core of the building, is a profound and prophetic statement. And boy, do we need to hear it. Sadly, plenty of ‘vain labour’ happens in those corridors and halls. But how fantastic that those words have echoed through the centuries into the ether, calling those who lead to also serve and listen.
Called to Govern
Put at its simplest, if we are made in the image of God, we are called to govern because He governs. It should be as natural for a young Christian to want to be a politician as to want to be a worship leader. Both play a part in confirming the right ordering or our relationships to each other and to God.
Worship and Politics. Born to be together but dangerous when left separate. You end up with either touchy-feely, warm-fuzzy, world-escaping heads-in-the-clouds or cold-headed, power-hungry ignorance of the invisible. Without both vertical and horizontal planes operating, we may not become the three-dimensional Jesus-mimics we are called to be.
