I Want Obama to Be Successful

I just finished taking a course, Classics 401, at the Lancaster branch campus of Ohio University. The topic, daily life in ancient Rome, is one that I knew little about, quite honestly, and because Christ's life, death, and resurrection happened while his Judean homeland was a province of the Roman Empire, will help me in my preaching and teaching.

The final week's readings dealt with the role played by religion and philosophy in Rome, from the monarchy through the empire. As I reviewed for the exam, I ran across a piece written by a Christian who lived in the late-second through early-third century, Tertullian. He wrote in response to official persecution instigated by the Roman emperors:

On behalf of the safety of the emperors, we invoke the eternal God...We Christians are continually praying for all the emperors...We pray for the emperors a long life, a secure reign, strong armies, a faithful Senate, honest subjects, and a world at peace...God has said clearly and explicitly, "Pray for kings and princes and worldly powers so that your lives may be tranquil." For when the Empire is shaken, and all the other members of it are shaken, we, too, of course, although we are considered aliens by the crowds, find ourselves sharing some part of the disaster...[Tertillian, Apology, appearing in As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History]

A few weeks ago, with me hip-deep in parish work and other things going on in my life, I didn't comment when one prominent radio host said that he hoped that Barack Obama would fail as president.

I can understand why a person who disagrees with proposals from a president wanting those proposals to fail.

But from a Christian perspective, to want an entire presidency to fail is not only, as Tertullian wrote in the early third-century AD, contrary to simple self-interest, but also contrary to the will of God.

Governments, the Bible teaches, are instituted for the common good, necessities in an imperfect world. It's in the interest of all people that governments are successful in promoting the common good.

Whether it's ideologically correct or not, it's clear that Christians are called to hope...and pray...for the success of whoever happens to be president.

And so, I hope and pray that President Obama will be successful, just as I've hoped and prayed, since I became a Christian, that every president would be successful, as well as wise, judicious, courageous, and safe.

Christmas and "Pagan Customs"

I just finished talking with our daughter on the telephone. She told me about a conversation she'd had with a guy at work that nearly made me bust a gut.

This fellow told her knowingly, "You know, most of the customs of Christmas go back to the pagans. Even the date for Christmas goes back to them."

He said this with a triumphant knowing tone, as if to say, "This all proves Christmas is bunk."

But any informed Christian can tell you that we have no idea when Jesus was actually born. No Christan claims that December 25 is the actual birthday of Jesus. It's just the day we've chosen to celebrate the birth.

For centuries, residents of the northern hemisphere have celebrated varied holidays involving light, just around the Winter Solstice. In the first century Roman world in which Christianity was born, the festival of Saturnalia, celebrated in honor of a god of agriculture, took place during the Solstice. Evergreens were hung. Gifts were exchanged. Candles were lit.

Christians, a marginalized minority, appropriated the customs of the "pagans" in order to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the One they believed was "the light of the world." This is Who the evangelist John wrote about in the prologue of his Gospel:

...The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God... [John 1:9-13]

The Christian reclamation of old customs may have been a somewhat subversive act for a persecuted band of believers to employ to worship and honor the God they'd come to know through Jesus Christ. But people who think that it all disproves the revelation of God in Christ are guilty of poor logic...or wishful thinking.