by Dion Oxford
Well, we’re in the middle of the campaign for the 41st Canadian federal election since confederation. And while I can speculate with some certainty as to who the Prime Minister will be before I hear any election results, and while admittedly that saddens me, it still doesn’t change where I will continue to place my hope. Regardless of whether or not I like the person who will emerge as the Prime Minister of this country, my hope rests elsewhere.
As we all watch the election campaigns unfold, we each see leaders who are extremely interested in how they were doing in the polls along the way. Each of them want and need to know if their popularity amongst voters is on the rise, and they all view their campaigns as failing if their popularity is shrinking.
No matter who wins this election, I still worship and only pledge allegiance to Jesus, who is still the King of kings and whose politics never change. He didn’t seem to care about approval ratings. In fact, in his first public address (Luke 4:18-21) he spoke a truth that enraged his audience and ultimately got him killed.
According to his first ever speech, his campaign was simple; to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, to make the blind to see, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
Today’s election campaign yet again has very little mention of the poor. It talks a lot about getting ‘tough on crime’ as opposed to finding redemptive ways to set captives free, is blinded by the so-called economic crises as opposed to helping the blind to see the real reasons for our economic situation (greed?), has almost no mention of the oppressed (like many aboriginal folks, people without homes, abused women). It doesn’t feel much like the proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favour.
Thankfully, I only bend my knee to the King, whose election campaign isn’t a popularity contest and who doesn’t really need my vote. So whether I like the politics of whoever is Canada’s Prime Minister, it doesn’t affect my hope. Why should it? My hope rests in a ruler who has always been and always will be, King.
