Recently I wrote an open letter to the New Zealand Labour Party that got a lot of attention – at least it was a lot of attention for this blog, which really isn’t saying much. Even still, it made some people take notice and that led to a few that I hold in high regard, suggesting that I should consider joining a political party in order to be more intimately involved and influential. Because of my connection to them it wasn’t a suggestion I took lightly. Also, party politics has a certain allure for me.

There is no denying that Parliamentary politics has influence in helping to shape the direction of a country, so that naturally leads to political parties having influence. It then makes sense that if you’re someone who wants to serve and make a positive difference, party politics would have an attraction and I would encourage people from all walks of life to consider party membership and involvement across the political spectrum for that very reason. You don’t have to agree with everything a chosen party is and stands for, in fact, it’s better if you don’t, but it’s a solid way to engage.

Personally, Parliamentary politics excites me. I get caught up in the fervour of elections, I watch lots of Parliament TV (which bores the pants off most people – not literally… that would be rude), I’m fascinated by the tactical games, how policy gets communicated, and I love thinking through how parties can connect with the public and serve them well. It’s easy for me to get caught up in all of that during election time and feel a pull towards it. There’s nothing wrong with that, being politically aware and engaged is good, but when it is suggested to me that I should get involved by signing up to a party, I’m faced with a glaring question – is it appropriate for me, as a Christian minister, to be engaged politically in that way?

Let me make an important distinction clear that will then make my personal stance on the question blindingly obvious once I play out an analogy. Christianity is inherently political, so it is not a question of whether I am or should be political or not – the very DNA of my faith makes me so. The question is about whether my politics should be aligned with a particular party.

Christianity is inherently political in that it subverts any system of power and ‘lordship’ established by any human authority and it confronts, with love, humility, and sacrifice, anything that authority undertakes that perpetuates the brokenness of God’s creation. It doesn’t say that such authorities have no place, they certainly do, but it does say they’re not the ultimate authority. Rather, it declares the authority of Jesus over and above all things and Jesus established the reign of another ‘kingdom’ that has an ethic, way of being, principles and a very core of existence that seeks to transform all else towards God’s intended purposes for all things so that he and the whole of creation can again look, one day, and declare that ‘it is good’. This sometimes stands in encouragement and support of established authorities, but also it very often stands in contrast to those authorities and carries an inherent critique of them.

The ultimate political act of the kingdom that declares Jesus as its authority is not the sitting of a Parliament, but the gathering of its community around a table that shares in the humble gifts of bread and wine/juice as a mysterious participation in the body and the blood of the one whose leadership was established through his death on a cross, his resurrection, and his ascension. That meal captures all that we are and all that we are called to be in the world around us. It compels us towards involvement in this broken world through healing, reconciliation and a challenge of all things that undermine God’s good intention for His creation.

None of that excludes the involvement of Jesus followers in political parties, rather, it encourages it for those who feel compelled in that direction – but a minister has a different function in relation to politics. I was ordained by the community as a servant to the Church, therefore, in effect, I am a sitting politician in the service of that kingdom. Jesus, to carry the analogy over, is both the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the House. I am both a party member and a representative of His Parliament and one cannot be a sitting politician for more than one party.

As a sitting politician in His Parliament, my responsibilities are clear – to serve all who have chosen the jurisdiction of His Parliament in the way the Prime Minister and Speaker of the House has declared and demonstrated, to invite others to enter into its jurisdiction, to live out its Way in all matters, and to act as an ambassador to all other authorities and those within them no matter what their allegiance, affirming them when they are in union with the Parliament I serve, and critiquing them when they are not. And I submit to those authorities as a diplomat would in a foreign land only insofar as they do not call me into a contradiction with the laws of the Parliament my ultimate allegiance sits with.

Whilst that analogy may sound a bit grandiose and will make no sense to someone who doesn’t believe as I do, with it in play it should be very clear that everything I do is inherently political, that it is entirely appropriate for me to engage across the political spectrum and to speak into it in a way that is fitting and/or necessary in any given circumstance, but that at this stage in my life it hobbles the ministry I have been called to if I am aligned as a member in any particular party of the New Zealand Parliament. I feel called to be free to engage with any party and any politician, as a representative of a different authority, not simply another New Zealand political party.

Allow me to affirm again though, that this does not mean that I am not political or that I cannot take a strong stand on particular issues. I can, I do, and I will. I am also open to talking to, and advising any political person or entity that wants to hear my perspective on any matter. Not that I have much to offer them, but hey, I’ll talk about anything over a coffee.