Now that the Federal Election has come and gone, it is worth reflecting on how the church can engage in the political process during the next three years.

Fear was a major driver in the election campaign. It is easy to succumb to the politics of fear when it is the prevailing mood in the electorate. However Christians are called to live an alternative politics. We are to embody the politics of hope and love.

This is what the first Christians did. Living under the oppression of Roman imperialism, they lived lives of such hope and love that they couldn’t help but make an impact on their culture. By caring for abandoned children and sharing their possessions with those in need, they embodied the kind of politics we all want to see in the parties we voted for.

Jesus of course stood alone as their example. John 18 describes what is probably the most highly-charged political scene in all the gospels. “Are you the King of the Jews?” is a very political question. Two people representing opposing kingdoms are in face-to-face conflict. The political overtones of this speak loudly.

When the church lives out its claim that Jesus is Lord it is being overtly political. How do we confess our ultimate allegiance to Jesus, his kingship and to the political dimensions of what his kingdom means? What is our prophetic role? These are gospel questions for the church.

Politics is about handling the complexities of how people live together. That’s why it overlaps so profoundly with the Gospel. It goes to the heart of how God want us to live together. What is God’s intention for this world? What type of kingdom does Jesus call us to?

There are all sorts of parties that Christians would have voted for in the election. Whatever our political differences though, the main witness we have is that Jesus is Lord. That is what unites us. When we submit totally to Jesus as Lord of our politics, economics, morality and everything else, we – like the first Christians – will have an impact on our culture that will provoke people to ask why we live this way (1 Peter 3:15).

The Gospel calls us to an alternative politics. It calls us to a politics of hope and transformation that allows the world to find fullness of life; not just for the present, but for eternity.