God's Two Ways of Governing - For the Flourishing of Human Life

As we have been navigating our way through the recent days of our republic, during events that are without precedent in our republic's history, here's how much of a nerd I am: I am guided by the liturgical year!

This past Wednesday, January 6, was the feast of the Epiphany. The Epiphany is rooted in the Biblical story of the magi visiting Jesus, bringing their gifts (Matthew 2:1-12).  Themes of the Epiphany are light, illumination, coming to clarity.  This past Wednesday, in her opening remarks to members of the United States House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even mentioned that it was the Epiphany, and expressed her wish that accepting the Electoral College votes on that day would bring clarity to the past two months during which so many lies about the integrity of the election have caused so much confusion and so much doubt.  I thought it to be painful irony that it was on the Epiphany that President Donald Trump and Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz were doing their best to continue encouraging doubt and confusion, continuing to press their lies that the states' vote counts were fraudulent.  Senator Hawley, on his way into the Capital building, even encouraged the Trump demonstrators soon to become a mob.

Then we watched in horror, as the Trump-Hawley-Cruz-inspired mob entered and trashed the Capital building.  Five people are dead as a result.  

I am thinking we have had an epiphany as a nation in the days since the Epiphany.  So many are now condemning the lies that Trump, Hawley, Cruz, Rudy Giuliani, and others have been telling about the election that that condemnation has become a consensus.  So many have come to the consensus that those lies were used to motivate the mob.  A majority of Americans even think that Trump should be removed from office immediately!  We have come to a greater clarity.

What will be the next steps?  They will be taken by those whose vocations are to be our elected leaders.  I use the word "vocations" deliberately, again with the liturgical year offering guidance.  Today is January 10, which is the Baptism of Our Lord this year on the liturgical calendar.  The relationship of  baptism and vocation is a distinctive Lutheran teaching - that followers of Jesus are baptized into their vocations.  

Martin Luther taught that God rules over two kingdoms in which Christians live out their vocations.  Some are called to vocations in the church.  Most are called to vocations in the public realm.  Vocations in the church are intended to call people into the good news of Christ's salvation.  Vocations in the public realm and, most especially, in government, are intended to provide for and protect the order of justice which is necessary for human flourishing.  

Only months ago, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved the most recent official statement of this distinctive Lutheran teaching.  To quote from the 2020 statement , "Government and Civic Engagement in the United States: Discipleship in a Democracy":

"The Christian faith teaches that God rules all of creation. This authority expresses God’s single intent to foster human flourishing intertwined with God’s concern for all creation. Historically, Lutherans have recognized that God’s rule is experienced in two distinct but interconnected ways. These two ways for governing are necessary because of human sin....

Through the Church, "God instills faith in Jesus Christ to actively redeem those who recognize their sin and trust God’s promise. Here God acts upon the 'inner' or personal dimensions of our lives through God’s promise given in Word and Sacrament. Here God uses the Scriptures, prayer, sermons, worship, and human conscience to transform our relationship with God and thereby with each other." 

The Church proclaims "the tangible power of God’s love and forgiveness to people of faith, which stirs us to forgive others, to express mutual love and care, and to strive for justice. Earthly government has no role in the work of saving us from sin. Only God can bring about the fundamental change of heart that is true faith. 

"At the same time, God...operates in the 'outer' social, political, and economic world. Here God works through human roles, structures, and institutions to foster the well-being of the people and world God creates. Lutheran teaching describes God’s work as hidden or 'masked' behind these roles, structures, and institutions. In this 'outer' world, what we see is human activity, but God’s intent is to work through this human activity to order and provide earthly justice and enough for all. Earthly or civil government is indispensable here, standing alongside church, family, and the economy as basic institutions that structure human life.

"...[G]overnment is indispensable for safeguarding and improving human life and creation."

"...To evaluate how well agencies of government are doing their proper work of providing for the safety and well-being of those within the country’s borders and/ or jurisdiction, Lutherans ask one simple but all-encompassing question: is the neighbor being served?"

During these days of tumult, I pray especially for all who are baptized into vocations in the "outer social, political, and economic world."  In particular, I give great thanks for the election officials in the 50 states and state legislatures who have been nothing less than heroic in safeguarding the integrity of the election process during this time of turmoil, so that our democracy can flourish.  I give great thanks for those whose vocations are to serve in the United States Congress, and who have remained true to their oath to preserve the constitution over partisan political interests.  

I think of the other great threat we are facing during these days.  I give great thanks for governors and public health officials in the states, whose vocation is to coordinate medical providers who are vaccinating us against COVID-19.  And I give great thanks for those in the incoming Biden administration who will take on the vocation of (finally!) providing national coordination for this effort. 

Andy Ballentine