Adam Hamilton is pastor of Church of the Resurrection, a United Methodist Church in Leawood, Kan., which is a suburb of Kansas City. Adam’s church is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, particularly among mainline churches. He has been identified by Religion and Ethics News Weekly as “One of the Top 10 People to Watch.” His most recent book is Seeing Grey in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality and Politics. Preaching editor Michael Duduit recently visited with him to discuss the book and the challenge of preaching in a political season.
Preaching: Your new book is subtitled “Thoughts on Religion, Morality and Politics.” This is a timely moment for discussion of religion and politics, isn’t it?Advertisement
This is the time when everybody is wrestling with these issues. I wanted the book to be timed to the elections to help shape the dialogue in our country among thinking Christians about how we bring together our faith in the areas of politics, religion and morality.
Preaching: What do you see as the role of preaching in dealing with these public-square issues? Hamilton: In some churches where you’ve got an entire congregation in total alignment in terms of their politics, you might have one answer to your question; but in most congregations that’s not the case. There’s a large Southern Baptist church here in Kansas City. I was talking with the pastor, and he said, “You know, 40 percent of our members are Democrats. It’s a working-class congregation.” Most pundits wouldn’t anticipate that.
When you preach on political issues in any congregation, part of what you’ve got to take into account is you’re standing in the place of God in the pulpit. People are coming not just to hear a lecture or your opinions, but they’re coming to understand what is God’s will. And when it comes to addressing the issues of politics, that calls for a great deal of humility and care in how we go about addressing those issues.
I fear that many times we as pastors have violated the commandment to not misuse God’s name or to use God’s name in vain by attaching God’s name to our own political persuasions or positions. So we have to be cautious about it. But at the same time, we’re going through a really important time of making decisions about the future of our country and our leaders, and our faith needs to be brought to bear on those issues. I like the way Carol Lasswell defined the issue of politics, as “Who gets what, when and how.” When you think about that—the issue of who gets what, when and how—that’s a very moral issue. Those are questions that have to do with justice. They have to do with our world view. They have to do with our faith. And so if we’re not bringing our faith to bear in the area of politics then what are we using to decide who gets what, when and how?
