Citizens & Patriots

Citizens & Patriots: Keeping the Commandments

August 31, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett, Rajaee Saliba • Matthew 22:33–40, 1 Corinthians 13:1–6, James 3:13—4:10, Matthew 5:21–22

We ought to keep God’s commandments in our politics and display them as prominently as possible. This is the prime directive of our Lord. We ought to display them in our homes, at work, online, at the dinner table, even in the voting booth! They belong everywhere that we are. No matter how challenging and counter-cultural it is, let us keep the commandments at the center of our political participation.

Citizens & Patriots: Follow Me

September 14, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett • Luke 6:46–49

When Jesus calls out to a man or a woman, “Follow me!” it reaches them right where they sit — with their current commitments, beliefs, and allegiances — and summons them to move, to get up and get into the path of Jesus. In saying “follow me,” Jesus calls the fishermen to leave their nets, the tax collector to leave his booth, the zealot to leave his plans. “Follow me” calls us to leave the wide road and the noise of the rabble and go single-mindedly in the direction of the cross. “Follow me!” Jesus says, and in so saying He summons us to abandon every other would-be rabbi for the cause of Jesus alone.

Citizens & Patriots: Sanctified Sabotage

September 7, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett • John 17:25–26, John 13:34–35, Matthew 26:47–52, Philippians 2:5–11

Political disagreement is a good thing, but political contempt certainly is not---especially when that contempt boils over into violence. What is the Christian’s response and responsibility in the face of contempt, threat, and violence? How do we relate to violence enacted to protect or promote even good causes? With our words, we disavow violence; with our life, we discredit it.

Citizens & Patriots: Like a Lamb, Like a Dragon

August 24, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett • Luke 9:49–56, Revelation 13:1–12, 2 Corinthians 5:11–21

The prophet and apostle John had a vision on Patmos, a rocky and lonely island where he had been sent as punishment for the exercise of his faith. There in vision he sees beasts from land and sea representing the global empires of the earth, and he sees the sinister, serpentine character which animates them and gives them their power. These revelations about the empires of the world rightly give us pause at any suggestion that the Church and the State unite in pursuit of a more Christian nation. How do we navigate the religious differences in our land? The revelation of Christ to John the apostle warns us against recruiting the government to enforce religious rules. As the vision reveals, such a union does the bidding of the enemy rather than the Savior!

Citizens & Patriots: His Kingdom

August 17, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett • Luke 17:20–21, Mark 1:14–15, Matthew 6:10, Jeremiah 29:7, John 18:33–36

Jesus is King and he rules a kingdom, but what is that kingdom like? and how does it relate to our national politics? Should we be establishing the Kingdom of God on earth through government? Or is the Kingdom merely “spiritual” and private?

Citizens & Patriots: Jesus is Lord

August 10, 2024 • Kessia Reyne Bennett • Psalm 146, 1 Corinthians 8:5–6, Romans 10:9, Philippians 3:20–21, Acts 2:36

My phone, email inbox, eyes, and ears are all getting filled up with political messages as the U.S. presidential race is heating up after an already eventful summer (one candidate surviving an assassination attempt and the other candidate dropping out?!). The news and the campaign messaging can be overwhelming. How do we reclaim our sanity in the insane political landscape? We begin with the most ancient and fundamental Christian confession: Jesus is Lord.

Pleasant Valley Church

Christian Principles for Political Participation