The Ven Stuart Crosson combines politics and religion.
It is six weeks since the general election. The fuss has died down and life for most of us has returned to normal.
I must say, I was relieved to be finished with this particular election.
I got a little tired of the sideshow that Kim Dotcom became and the Nicky Hager book Dirty Politics.
Despite some valid questions the book asked, it, too, was a distraction.
Had it been released outside election year, perhaps a more reasoned and probing investigation into the level of corruption in our political system could have been undertaken?
Most of our political parties have some valuable policies that I can support and endorse.
But, equally, all of them have areas that I am less comfortable with, and so election day becomes an exercise in the art of compromise.
It's a bit like buying a house. Is the kitchen/dining area more important than the back garden, and so on?
Just as there is no perfect house we can live in, there is no perfect political party to commit to. You just have to decide which suits New Zealand best for this season of life.
Politics is a fraught subject for anyone to engage in; second only to religion in terms of its potential to polarise and upset. So let me combine the two and see if I can't do a bit of upsetting and polarising.
The reason I feel at liberty to combine politics and religion is because Jesus and the apostle Paul did so quite freely in the New Testament.
But Jesus' instruction to ''Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's'' does imply that there is a clear distinction between Church and State.
One of the reasons I am happy to have been called into the vocation of preaching the Good News of Jesus, and not into politics, is my firm belief that the vision which Jesus came to establish is a way more compelling vision than National, Labour, the Greens, New Zealand First, the Conservatives, the Maori Party, Act, United Future or any other political party.
If we look at the three largest parties in New Zealand, they each have some guiding principles on offer that sit comfortably with a Christian understanding of the Kingdom of God.
National's emphasis on the good stewardship of capital comes right out of Jesus' teaching on investing wisely (Matthew 25:14-30).
Labour's emphasis on fairness and the needs of the poor resonate with Jesus' teaching in Luke 4:18. The Greens' emphasis on the care of creation (Romans 8:19-21) also. Kim Dotcom's emphasis on the internet is a little harder to square with the New Testament. But what no political party can do is to set us free from ourselves.
No political movement can pass a law that will deal with the corruption within my heart that causes me to do and say stupid things or even bad things.
I know full well the sin that so easily entangles political parties in their bid to gain and hold power looks very similar to the sin that entangles my own heart.
That is why when Jesus came pronouncing that ''the kingdom of God is near''. He issued the instruction to ''repent and believe the good news''. We need God's help with this.
We need His grace and we need His truth. No law of Parliament can establish a community or a nation that is shaped by righteousness, peace and joy.
But these are exactly the marks of the community that has yielded itself to the empowering presence of God (Romans 14:17). This is exactly the vision Jesus shares of the Kingdom of God.
So pray for our politicians, that they may govern wisely and with integrity. Pray that they will be free from greed, corruption and self-interest.
But, more importantly, pray for yourselves that you also will be free. Pray that you might live well and right before our sovereign God.
I thank God for those men and women who sacrifice so much to serve us in Parliament under the intense public scrutiny of the media.
But I also know that their ability to influence our national life is limited by God's powerful hand.
So, in matters of public life and of the human heart, to Him I will always look first.
-The Ven Stuart Crosson is vicar of St Matthew's Anglican Church, Archdeacon of Dunedin.
