“Pastor, You’re being too political…”

Let’s get right to the heart of it. I’m willing to bet most pastors have heard this statement uttered towards them at some point in their pastorate. Probably after a really difficult sermon on a difficult topic. Most likely on a passage of Scripture that they would have preferred to not have to preach on because they knew it would be met with criticism.

What does the statement “you’re being too political…” really mean though? It can mean a few things. Most of the time what the person really means is “you’re being too partisan” as in you sound like the talking points I’m imagining I would hear from the opposing partisan political party that I’m registered in and I don’t like it. And the core challenge behind this is a belief by the person that God would clearly be registered in the same partisan political party as they are and have the same core ideological beliefs as they do. How dare you suggest that there might be a difference.

“You’re being too political…” only gets lobbed at the pastor though in one direction. I’m not talking about from an ideological perspective. That would be too simplistic. I’m willing to bet that pastors heard that they were being “too political” when they preached against slavery before the Civil War in America. And that’s before the current two political parties existed. I’m willing to bet pastors have heard this in other times and places as well. Which gets to a deeper meaning about the statement.