The political is personal. The personal is political. Much as we may try to keep the realms of our lives separate, our commitments have implications that overlap. Being Christian is not just a matter of what we do on Sunday morning, but what we do and who we are 24/7. So there is no aspect of our lives that is not under the influence of our Christian commitment.
For Martin of Tours this had significant implications. Martin lived form 316 to 397, in the first years that Christianity was a state sanctioned religion in the Roman Empire. He was from a military family. His father was an officer in the Imperial Horse Guard of the Roman Army. As required, Martin joined the cavalry when he was 15. This was his “political” life.
In his personal life, he had begun participating in Christianity at age 10. It was not a dominant religion and his parents were not part of the Christian movement. Finally at age 18 he was baptized.
The personal and political connected when Martin decided that because of his commitment to Christianity he could not carry a weapon and use it. He said: “I am a solider of Christ now and may not fight with a weapon in my hand.” Martin was charged with cowardice and jailed. He then volunteered to go unarmed before the enemy troops. After this he was released from military service and he went on to live as a Christian hermit.
Because of his Christian faith, for Martin the personal and political came into conflict. He had no choice but to follow his Christian convictions, whatever the outcome. Ironically, he became the patron saint of soldiers. Maybe soldiers pray to him to give them the courage to do what he did and forsake armed conflict.
We, like Martin, also face conflicts between our faith commitment and much of what is expected of us in the culture around us; between the personal and the political. Can you think of a time that you made a decision that went against the grain and you did it because of your Christian commitment? We like to think of our country as a Christian nation so that we don’t have to experience this conflict, so that we don’t experience tension between our faith and our citizenship, between the personal and the political.
May we be inspired by Martin to be true to our faith commitment and to the pacifism of Jesus. Then the personal may even transform the political.
Prayer: In our faith commitment is life; full, abundant, and joyful. As we make compromises with our faith, we sacrifice its blessings. May we fully invest ourselves in our faith so that we find our heart’s desire. May we have the courage to live our faith even when that presents challenges and difficult decisions. May we let our faith be personal and political. May we especially honor our faith commitment to peace and anti violence in the spirit of Martin of Tours. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 