Ongoing lessons from Congress for the church

As a long-time student of politics and theology/faith/religion/etc, I have been watching the recent events of the US House of Representatives and their attempts to elect a Speaker of the House as well as the the ripple effect from it. And I’ve been thinking about the lessons that the church can learn from this, if any.

Here’s what I’ve got so far.

1. Leadership is messy. But you probably already knew that. And here’s another obvious observation that becomes even more obvious in light of recent events — it’s even messier when the stakes are higher and the margins are slimmer. That’s because each person gets to assert their limited power more and more. If you don’t think that applies in a church, think again. Lot’s of church operate on an assumption of consensus, which means that they want everyone to be in agreement. This gives a lot of power to the folks who, if they want to, can throw their weight around and demand certain things, or cause problems if they so choose, depending on how messy a situation, or on weak the leadership situation is. But this isn’t specific to church of course — this is any human organization really. It’s just humanity that we’re talking about and how humans operate when they gather together to make decisions, involve power dynamics, and are in community.
2. Compromise vs. “Purity” — this is the fight on full display within the GOP conference. This is what it’s all about folks. The Trump loyalists faction in the GOP who are holding out on Rep. McCarthy want a…