after the election

What is the role of a disciple of Jesus Christ after the election? I see a lot of folks projecting personal things into the election result: "We won. You lost." "I can't stay in the U.S. with Bush as President." NPR even had an interview with a psychologist the other day because so many people are expressing depression in light of the result of the election.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" I am one of those who strongly opposes the agenda of the Bush administration. But right now I feel no different than I did when Eugene McCarthy didn't get the Democractic nomination in 1968 and Hubert Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon in the election. And how I felt when George McGovern lost the election in 1972 to Richard Nixon. God still continues to find ways to keep on God's agenda! My mission is to live and serve that agenda more than anything else.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ, we who voted for John Kerry, we who voted for George Bush, we who voted for Ralph Nader, and we who didn't vote. No matter who is president, we share a common vision and mission in Jesus Christ. If we place in human leaders ultimate expectations or disappointments, then we have given up the mission of Jesus Christ...go make disciples in all the world.

We who live in Christ have a mission to the world. That does include the political and social agendas of our world, but they also transcend those agendas. For instance, what about Christians in Communist Soviet Union? They had a very different worldview and faith than the government that governed them. Yet, they continued on their mission, no matter what.

I am not insinuating that we are in a situation like the Soviet Union. The point is, our mission is the same on November 3 as it was on November 1. Feed the hungry. Visit the prisoners and the sick. Clothe the naked. Preach the Good News to the poor. Release for the captives. Liberation for the oppressed. Sight for the blind. To proclaim that the presence of Jesus Christ is the sign that God's kingdom/realm is coming now into our world. To go next door and around the world to invite others to be on the journey of discipleship. THAT'S what truly will change the world! No U.S. president nor any other world leader can do that!!!