Moving To Help Resettle Refugees
After almost three years in the WH, Friday 6/16 will be my last day. I am leaving to work in the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. ORR assists refugees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, and asylees establish a new life in the United States (check it out: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr). I am honored and grateful to have served our President and help recruit and build his team - look forward to continuing to serve on the his team at HHS. - Josh

I've been thinking about the interaction of Christian faith and politics lately, and I've written a little bit about my thoughts.

I would like to presume that the reason so many people in our society tie “Christianity” and conservative/republican politics (or democratic politics, or any other political party or movement) together is because it is difficult to see faith and politics for what they really are. But I won't pretend to know what others are thinking. I still can, however, let my ideas run their course in a hopefully fruitful manner. Politics is about the preservation of society, assuming that the welfare and opportunity of society is the goal (or some basic variation of this wording; semantics is not my point here). Obviously the political world can be an amazing service with excellent goals. But it is important to realize that there is a distinct difference between these goals and those of God's kingdom.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we regard the physical wellbeing of ourselves as nothing next to our salvation in Christ, the building of his kingdom, the spread of the Gospel message, the needs of the oppressed and the helpless, the unity and discipleship of God’s Church, and the worship of God. (Furthermore, Christ followers must regard all of these things as our only pursuit in life, certainly not emphasizing one at the expense of the other, but that is another issue for another time.) Thus, we regard economic opportunity, moral legislation, holding political office, etc. as of worth only to the extent that they serve God's kindgom.

This scenario, however, is by no means clean-cut. “Faith” and “politics” are not separate “realms” in life. Politicans and voters have beliefs that (whether they like it or not) influence their decisions and actions. In this way, Christ followers ought to support political ideas and movements which advance freedom, opportunity, and welfare for all people, but we must remember that a free world will never spread the Gospel for us. Neither should government legislate ethical beliefs greater than those most basic to freedom, opportunity, and welfare. Grey areas will always be trouble, and we all should take time to think about and discuss which ethical issues are "most basic" and should be legislated and which are not. We should not be after government to enforce our whole Christian ethic, but we should be after all people to embrace the God who loves them. Christ followers do not feed off the land. Not here, not now. We are on the move. Christ followers do not wait for politics to support them. We are waiting only for the return of Jesus Christ. We must preach that Christ followers do not and will not sit on America’s sustenance and enjoy themselves. Furthermore, we should not be appalled when the advancement of the Gospel message is met with resistance, even in a politically free world.

We Christians must, however, push for the worldwide acceptance of freedom, opportunity, and human welfare, but only secondarily to the worship of Jesus Christ and the advancement of his kingdom. Why do Christ followers resist political institutions in the Middle East, in India, in China? Because they enforce oppression against women and children (or all people not in political power), because they label some people outcasts and others deserving, because they claim that the laws of their gods are the laws of the land. These practices do not make for a free world. However, we ought not call for the end of a religion because of a few practices of a few members of that religion. Our focus is not on ending the other religions around the world, but on spreading the news of Jesus Christ. World governments should call for the reform of those members and the reform of the beliefs causing the unjust actions. The world community must respect all beliefs that advance the causes of human welfare and opportunity, but it must defend against those beliefs which seek to practice the opposite.

Furthermore, I claim that the Christ follower should not align himself with a political party in a principled way. To say that the structure of government inherently works best in a republican or democratic way has never been proven over thousands of years. Christ followers ought to support political effort to enforce justice, more than political theories. Political theories are certainly important, but not enough for a Christ follower to align oneself in a way which rivals our faith in Christ himself. We ought to be much more passionate and active about our faith in Jesus Christ than about our opinions about governmental structure and fiscal policy. Instead of following the political party which adopts the stance we take on certain issues, Christ followers ought to encourage all political parties and movements to support these issues. We ought to depend solely on Christ and on each other. Our only allegiance is to Jesus Christ and his church. I claim that we also ought to de-emphasize any national allegiance and press for the adoption of justice and freedom in every county of the world as Christians and not as Americans (or any other nationality). Not that we should be hostile to nationalities, but we belong to God's kingdom. Christianity does not belong to America. We must not become ensnared in the idea that America is, or was, or should be a "Christian nation." There is no such thing, and the Bible certainly does not endorse the idea.

Let me know what you think. [Post your responses below]

Will Trautman

Triathlon Troopers

Well brothers, I thought it fitting to let you all know how Ben and I did in our recent triathlon. By the way, he got married this weekend in Florida, and we who went had a blast. I'm sure someone will post some pics (Bennie looked sexy).

Ben and I finished the Memphis in May Mountain Bike Triathlon in 1 hour and 51 minutes (.5 miles swim, 10 mile mountain bike, 3 mile run). The water was freezing, so it took a while for our bodies to adjust - but we finished the swim in a not so clean lake in 17 minutes. We hopped on our bikes nice and wet, and finished that part in 58 minutes. By that time, I didn't have alot of juice left. But Ben was faithful to hang with me and keep me encouraged. We kept a steady pace and finished 30 or so minutes later. Great times. Highly recommend anyone interested in good cross training to try one. Lord willing, this won't be my last. Be sure to tell Ben congrats for having enough love to stick with his slow training partner.

God bless fellas! - Chad P

James Taylor Crowley or Crowing Crowley?

Hey fellas - Here's my music page on myspace if y'all wanna give it a listen and download some songs: http://www.myspace.com/taylorcrowleymusic

Taylor