The Door-Knocker's Premises
*Ding Dong* * Knock Knock Knock* {Well, that isn’t the neighbor kids. What kind of salesman is it now?} I open the door and unexpectedly greet a college-aged woman. She tells me, “I’m in the neighborhood today on behalf of your representative to ask how you feel about your representative and what hope you have at the federal level.” I was not anticipating that introduction. But the interaction brought together in my mind two opportunities before us: the Colson Fellowship and Night to Unite.
Why would a political door-knocker be told (presumably) to phrase her questions that way? Maybe it seems perfectly natural to you. Maybe even thinking of questioning the premise of her request seems unnecessary. The air we breathe is one of “expressive individualism” where all is governed and oriented around the political. Because of the reading and resources I benefited from in going through the Colson Fellowship, I perceived those premises behind the request.
My initial response was, “How do I feel? I don’t particularly feel anything about my representative.” The premise that our feelings are most operative in how we relate to others and the world is, by the very nature of the changeability and instability of feelings, an unsure footing. How one feels about an elected official is irrelevant to how such a one carries out her office. She is a minister of God for our good, to be a terror to bad conduct, bearing the sword not in vain (Romans 13:1-4). If I do wrong, I ought to be afraid. Would that feeling be a negative assessment of the representative’s work? No, it would be fitting. Because it means the representative was doing what God ordained.
A bit unsure of my response, the young woman continued, “Well, what do you hope in?” She had already indicated that she meant in the realm of national politics. But why would hope be the framework in which we interact with the political? Politics are to govern a rightly ordered society. But it is a terribly misguided worldview that has your hope governed by politics. John Stonestreet has commented how 18th century French observer Alexis de Tocqueville noted the strength of these United States coming from the prevalence of pre-political social connections: social groups and associations, meaningful relationships within local communities, and yes, churches. Encompassing all things into politics has served to weaken our society. So to the question, “What do you hope in?,” I replied with what is rightly true, “The resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
These premises are the kinds of things undergirding not just political door-knockers but your neighbors also. With “Night to Unite” (formerly “National Night Out”) on Tuesday next week, I hope you will attend your block party to engage with your neighbors. God has providentially placed you on your block for such good through your gospel witness. But I would encourage you to have a vision for next year’s “Night to Unite” as well. How might you be better equipped to engage the premises and presuppositions of your neighbor’s? That is what the Colson Fellowship is about. And the deadline to register is tomorrow. In all of your interactions with friends, neighbors, and door-knockers, may you be spurred on by the exhortation of Peter, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Why would a political door-knocker be told (presumably) to phrase her questions that way? Maybe it seems perfectly natural to you. Maybe even thinking of questioning the premise of her request seems unnecessary. The air we breathe is one of “expressive individualism” where all is governed and oriented around the political. Because of the reading and resources I benefited from in going through the Colson Fellowship, I perceived those premises behind the request.
My initial response was, “How do I feel? I don’t particularly feel anything about my representative.” The premise that our feelings are most operative in how we relate to others and the world is, by the very nature of the changeability and instability of feelings, an unsure footing. How one feels about an elected official is irrelevant to how such a one carries out her office. She is a minister of God for our good, to be a terror to bad conduct, bearing the sword not in vain (Romans 13:1-4). If I do wrong, I ought to be afraid. Would that feeling be a negative assessment of the representative’s work? No, it would be fitting. Because it means the representative was doing what God ordained.
A bit unsure of my response, the young woman continued, “Well, what do you hope in?” She had already indicated that she meant in the realm of national politics. But why would hope be the framework in which we interact with the political? Politics are to govern a rightly ordered society. But it is a terribly misguided worldview that has your hope governed by politics. John Stonestreet has commented how 18th century French observer Alexis de Tocqueville noted the strength of these United States coming from the prevalence of pre-political social connections: social groups and associations, meaningful relationships within local communities, and yes, churches. Encompassing all things into politics has served to weaken our society. So to the question, “What do you hope in?,” I replied with what is rightly true, “The resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
These premises are the kinds of things undergirding not just political door-knockers but your neighbors also. With “Night to Unite” (formerly “National Night Out”) on Tuesday next week, I hope you will attend your block party to engage with your neighbors. God has providentially placed you on your block for such good through your gospel witness. But I would encourage you to have a vision for next year’s “Night to Unite” as well. How might you be better equipped to engage the premises and presuppositions of your neighbor’s? That is what the Colson Fellowship is about. And the deadline to register is tomorrow. In all of your interactions with friends, neighbors, and door-knockers, may you be spurred on by the exhortation of Peter, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).