BLOG 7/15/19. I AM A CITIZEN OF TWO NATIONS, … NOT ALWAYS EASY.

I don’t mind having to pay taxes, actually. Out of my modest retirement income I have to come up with a couple thousand dollars a year. But then I do have a problem with those who make millions, even billions, who don’t pay their equivalent amount (or almost none at all). I don’t resend that some have extravagant tastes, with summer homes on Nantucket, and winter homes in Palm Beach. But, again, they, of all, should be carrying their load of the expenses of operating a government that seeks the welfare of all of its citizens.

Then, too, I have a problem of how that tax money is spent, and who / what are the recipients of our government spending. I am, after all, I am a citizen of two nations: one a kingdom/government of this world, and the other, the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. That kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of the age to come, was inaugurated with its design by the Father-God who sent and anointed him, “ … to proclaim good news to the poor … liberty to the captives… recovering sight to the blind … to set at liberty those who are oppressed. (Luke 4:18). The humanitarian focus, and the priority of justice and righteousness is unmistakable there. So, as a citizen of two kingdoms I am zealous that those responsible for the stewardship of this earthly kingdom have the social and humanitarian passion, the concern for economic, environmental, political, and social righteousness that is the priority of my kingdom citizenship, that demonstrates God’s new humanity in Christ.

I will give my support to those governmental figures who most approximate that self-giving love as inaugurated in Jesus Christ. In our better moments, we have been exemplary in that. Consider the inscription on the base of our Statue of Liberty: ““Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

That sounds totally contradictory to current immigration policy. If taxes were imposed on all equally we would have sufficient to, not only to welcome, but to provide, to house, to train for citizenship and working skills. I can see whole villages of modest Habitat for Humanity houses whose immigrant earn them with what Habitat calls “sweat equity”. We are, after all, primarily, a nation of immigrants (except for the Native Americans).

My primary citizenship is from Jesus, who said: “I was a stranger, and you took me in.” I want my secondary citizenship, also, to demonstrate that. I want those for whom I give political support to most reflect the ethics and principles of God’s new creation (whether they are professing Christian persons or not). And I will be a co-belligerent those government figures who have a humanitarian and righteousness-focused in the way they spend my taxes. And I will oppose those who use their vast wealth to provide the “perks” for agencies of economic and social greed.

Jesus said that it is by our works that others will know we are his disciples, and those works are nearly always costly, but they are demonstrations of love and justice of God, and of God’s new creation (new humanity) people. Yes, I am citizen of two kingdoms, but God’s kingdom has the priority.

“Make me an instrument of thy peace.”

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