Acts 4:1-2

"While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Many of us think that politics and religion don't mix.  We also imagine that we are spiritual but not religious, or vice versa.  We imagine disconnect in a world of great connections.  Some think you can only testify to the resurrection by being arrested; others have an overdose of reverence and imagine that you can't have spirituality without candles and soft music.  This text shows something dramatically different.  To protect the spiritual truth, the people got arrested.

In our world today, we have a profound disequilibrium. One has much more than another.  In the third and fourth world, we have water-borne diseases (material); in the first worlds, we have stress-related diseases (spiritual).  They are related to each other.

Politics and religion are linked.  Spirituality and religion are linked.  All four are related to each other.  Get over it and on with it.  Keeping Sabbath is the highest form of civil disobedience.  Saying Jesus is risen can land you in jail.
 
We are the children of God, who can't be pushed out of politics any more than God can be pushed out of religion.  Both try.  Spirit coheres.

Prayer

When annoying people try to keep you out of the boardroom and the legislature, O God, know that we understand.  When people try to say that Jesus can't be risen, and enforce their despair with jails too small to hold you, Holy Spirit, know that we see your cohering power.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.